Nominally this is a fast merchant with minimal crew requirements. Typical use cases are for star systems where the mainworld is deep in the primary's gravity well, or where there's a need for in-system travel between endpoints less than a week apart at 6G. The yacht version -- detailed below -- has a slightly different purpose.
And, of course, I'm playing with house rules as usual. Can you guess which ones?
Taking the 10Pn power plant fuel allocation for Pn-6, using the TCS power-down rule to stretch it to J2 in 200Td (40Td) plus 10Pn (20Td); then adding 10Td. Then, declaring that this 70Td supports 1J2 (40Td) plus 1/2 month of Pn-6 (30Td) if you don't use that Pn-6 for very long -- or even if you do. The rest of this is how I justify it...
Build rules: LBB2'81, with Demountable Tanks and the power-down rules from Trillion Credit Squadron.
[SPOILER="to hide the details"]
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Using a custom 199-ton hull, the Gypsy Queen class Fast Merchant is intended for use where maximum acceleration capability in a cargo carrier is a priority. It mounts Jump Drive-B, maneuver drive-F, and power plant-G, giving performance of jump-2 and 6-G acceleration, as well as supporting Double-Fire capability. A 70-ton fuel tank provides for the power plant and 10 extra tons of fuel. 40 tons of internal demountable fuel tanks support Jump-2 when installed. Adjacent to the bridge is a Model/3 computer (which can be optionally be replaced with a Model/2 or even /1bis if desired for reasons of cost or space). There are two staterooms and no low berths. One triple turret is installed on the ship's lone hardpoint, equipped with two beam lasers and a sandcaster. Nominal cargo capacity is 20 tons. No small craft or vehicles are carried. The hull is streamlined. A 2-person crew -- pilot/navigator and gunner -- is required.
The ship costs MCr166.35 individually, 149.715 in serial production.
So, that's nice. What's the point, and exactly how am I going to use house rules to get you folks to yell at me?
Step 1: Turn it into an in-system yacht. Drop the demountable tanks (no jump capability at this point) and use the total 60Td of payload for yacht-type stuff. 9 staterooms; 8 high passengers and a steward, and 24Td cargo. Double-bunk the gunner and steward to save 4Td that goes to carrying an air/raft. Done. Adds about MC5 to the cost. You could add a 20Td launch if you wanted to, but why bother? There's nothing even remotely rule-bending here, but it's weird.
Alternately, just yank the tanks and run with a 60Td cargo hold. Or pretend the tanks are still there, but use them to hide 40Td of cargo space from everyone else. Still legal but weird.
Step 2: As above, but run everything at Pn-2 under the TCS power-down rule. This drops the mandatory 4-week power plant fuel requirement from 60Td (not 70Td because LBB2 fails to recognize Pn ratings beyond 6 -- though it does have 70Td fuel for reasons that will become clear shortly) to 20Td. The remaining 50Td fuel (after the 1 month of Pn-2 fuel) in normal tanks support 1J2 and 2 additional weeks of Pn-2, as long as you don't push it past 2G acceleration. This was a legal build with the demountable tanks; it's entirely functional to operate it as J2/2G/Pn2, though we're getting fuzzy with the jump fuel.
Step 3: Here's where the shouting starts: You've got hostiles closing and you need to firewall the throttle. Ramp the power plant up to Pn-7 so as to be able to do 6G and Double-Fire in the anti-missile fire phase. Your next two weeks of power plant fuel burn will come to 30Td, not 10Td. Fortunately, you will still have 30Td on board after burning the J2 fuel, so you're good there.
Use case: Running away really fast, and executing a J-1 at the 10-diameter line and accepting that you're going to misjump (the odds of rolling "ship destroyed" are pretty low in LBB2). Once you've entered jumpspace, throttle back to Pn-1 (which is all that's needed for a J-1). This extends your fuel reserve long enough to survive the longest misjumps and still have enough left for one more jump and one more week to get to a fuel source. TCS only counts fuel savings by months rather than days/weeks, but it doesn't seem to me like it's stretching things too far.
Actual mission: It's a getaway ship for elites who may need to flee their world. Just don't tell anyone that it still has jump capability left once you go to Pn7/6G. Letting it sit disused and ignored on the far side of the starport helps too
Exploit case: Well, it works for 2 weeks even if you run at full power the whole time, not just when you notice a threat. That's enough to get you there, so it never really needed the demountable tanks in the first place. (Why yes, this is the Yacht Loophole again -- so go ahead and complain if you want to).
And, of course, I'm playing with house rules as usual. Can you guess which ones?
Taking the 10Pn power plant fuel allocation for Pn-6, using the TCS power-down rule to stretch it to J2 in 200Td (40Td) plus 10Pn (20Td); then adding 10Td. Then, declaring that this 70Td supports 1J2 (40Td) plus 1/2 month of Pn-6 (30Td) if you don't use that Pn-6 for very long -- or even if you do. The rest of this is how I justify it...
Build rules: LBB2'81, with Demountable Tanks and the power-down rules from Trillion Credit Squadron.
[SPOILER="to hide the details"]
179 | 20 | Td Cargo. LBB2 | |
20 | 1 | Bridge | |
3 | 18 | Comp 3 | Could be M/2 |
2 | 1 | SR x 2 | Pilot, Gunner |
10 | 15 | j2,b | |
22 | 56 | p7,g | |
11 | 24 | m6,f | |
10 | extra fuel | ||
60 | Power Fuel | ||
0 | 48 | hull | |
1 | 3.25 | BBS (3x turret) | |
0 | 0.1 | hardpoint | |
40 | 0.04 | Dem Tks (J2) | |
| MCr Ind/Qty | 166.35 | 149.715 |
Using a custom 199-ton hull, the Gypsy Queen class Fast Merchant is intended for use where maximum acceleration capability in a cargo carrier is a priority. It mounts Jump Drive-B, maneuver drive-F, and power plant-G, giving performance of jump-2 and 6-G acceleration, as well as supporting Double-Fire capability. A 70-ton fuel tank provides for the power plant and 10 extra tons of fuel. 40 tons of internal demountable fuel tanks support Jump-2 when installed. Adjacent to the bridge is a Model/3 computer (which can be optionally be replaced with a Model/2 or even /1bis if desired for reasons of cost or space). There are two staterooms and no low berths. One triple turret is installed on the ship's lone hardpoint, equipped with two beam lasers and a sandcaster. Nominal cargo capacity is 20 tons. No small craft or vehicles are carried. The hull is streamlined. A 2-person crew -- pilot/navigator and gunner -- is required.
The ship costs MCr166.35 individually, 149.715 in serial production.
So, that's nice. What's the point, and exactly how am I going to use house rules to get you folks to yell at me?
Step 1: Turn it into an in-system yacht. Drop the demountable tanks (no jump capability at this point) and use the total 60Td of payload for yacht-type stuff. 9 staterooms; 8 high passengers and a steward, and 24Td cargo. Double-bunk the gunner and steward to save 4Td that goes to carrying an air/raft. Done. Adds about MC5 to the cost. You could add a 20Td launch if you wanted to, but why bother? There's nothing even remotely rule-bending here, but it's weird.
Alternately, just yank the tanks and run with a 60Td cargo hold. Or pretend the tanks are still there, but use them to hide 40Td of cargo space from everyone else. Still legal but weird.
Step 2: As above, but run everything at Pn-2 under the TCS power-down rule. This drops the mandatory 4-week power plant fuel requirement from 60Td (not 70Td because LBB2 fails to recognize Pn ratings beyond 6 -- though it does have 70Td fuel for reasons that will become clear shortly) to 20Td. The remaining 50Td fuel (after the 1 month of Pn-2 fuel) in normal tanks support 1J2 and 2 additional weeks of Pn-2, as long as you don't push it past 2G acceleration. This was a legal build with the demountable tanks; it's entirely functional to operate it as J2/2G/Pn2, though we're getting fuzzy with the jump fuel.
Step 3: Here's where the shouting starts: You've got hostiles closing and you need to firewall the throttle. Ramp the power plant up to Pn-7 so as to be able to do 6G and Double-Fire in the anti-missile fire phase. Your next two weeks of power plant fuel burn will come to 30Td, not 10Td. Fortunately, you will still have 30Td on board after burning the J2 fuel, so you're good there.
Use case: Running away really fast, and executing a J-1 at the 10-diameter line and accepting that you're going to misjump (the odds of rolling "ship destroyed" are pretty low in LBB2). Once you've entered jumpspace, throttle back to Pn-1 (which is all that's needed for a J-1). This extends your fuel reserve long enough to survive the longest misjumps and still have enough left for one more jump and one more week to get to a fuel source. TCS only counts fuel savings by months rather than days/weeks, but it doesn't seem to me like it's stretching things too far.
Actual mission: It's a getaway ship for elites who may need to flee their world. Just don't tell anyone that it still has jump capability left once you go to Pn7/6G. Letting it sit disused and ignored on the far side of the starport helps too
Exploit case: Well, it works for 2 weeks even if you run at full power the whole time, not just when you notice a threat. That's enough to get you there, so it never really needed the demountable tanks in the first place. (Why yes, this is the Yacht Loophole again -- so go ahead and complain if you want to).
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