Help me find/design a ship?

[RandyB]

I'm looking for a ship with specific capabilities. What I envision is something of a cross between a close escort and a mercenary cruiser, something that starmercs (unless you dislike them intensely!) would use, thus ship-to-ship capable, but that would also carry a 12-person "operations team" for not just boarding actions but also small-unit merc tickets.

I am not adverse to a small degree of "double duty" between the ship's crew and the ops team; I forsee the overall commander as either ship's captain or "owner aboard" with the ship's captain reporting to the unit commander.

Suggestions/recommendations?

 

[mike wightman]

Near the end of its run MT produced folio adventures set during the Hard Times era.

One of these had a converted subsidised liner - 600t - kitted out as a starmerc ship.

It carried several fighters and a couple of smallcraft for transporting the grunts.

 

[RandyB]

I was thinking about something in that size range. 800t is the classic Mercenary Cruiser; it carries more troops and less ship-to-ship armament than in had in mind, though. 400t is the classic SDB (which of course was canonically an example of the type, said type ranging from 200-100t, IIRC) and the streamlined-with-additional-fuel-tankage Fiery-class variant of the Gazelle Close Escort; neither of those two really fit the bill either.

 

[boomslang]

One of these had a converted subsidised liner - 600t - kitted out as a starmerc ship.

This is probably a good size for this role, supporting just one squad of elite commandos and their vehicle(s) and gear.

Any of the various rule sets can easily build a starship in the 600-dton, J-3 range that will have at least 200 dtons' worth of payload capacity (non-flightcrew staterooms, hold, vehicles, &c.) available. If you start to ramp up the M-drive much beyond M-3, it will of course reduce payload capacity correspondingly.

You can even take such a starship to J-4 performance and, provided you keep it at perhaps M-4 or less, still end up with over 100 dtons of payload space to work with.

In addition to the repurposed subsidized liner, the Hiver Embassy Ship is another variation on the 600-dton, J-3, let's-have-some-useful-craft-passengers-and-cargo-space-too theme.

 

[Carlobrand]

I was thinking about something in that size range. 800t is the classic Mercenary Cruiser; it carries more troops and less ship-to-ship armament than in had in mind, though. 400t is the classic SDB (which of course was canonically an example of the type, said type ranging from 200-100t, IIRC) and the streamlined-with-additional-fuel-tankage Fiery-class variant of the Gazelle Close Escort; neither of those two really fit the bill either.

8 potentially triple turrets backed by a Model/5 computer and two armed cutters isn't enough ship-to-ship armament for you?

What version are you playing: CT book 2, High Guard, MegaTrav, something else? What tech level are you thinking about? The Broadsword is still a plenty powerful design to do a modification around. You could scrap the cutter-and-module concept, replace the two 50 dT cutters with two 30 dT Ship's Boats, replace the two extra modules with two more 30 dT ship's boats, and still have the entire reserve fuel tank, cargo bay and another 40 dT left from the cutter downgrade available for further conversions to the ship itself: add a bit of armor, upgrade the power plant for more agility, add a few fighters, add a couple of G-carriers to replace the ATVs lost in the modification, whatever.

8 turrets and 4 armed 6G ship's boats alone should be more than enough fire power, but there's potential for this ship to serve as a small carrier.

 

[mirc]

Hmm, coincidentally I just played with the same thougt and had this Type CM (Mercenary Cruiser) – HS33 Yamal up on my site only a few days ago. There is a top and side view and the stats. The ship was build by Rhaan Industries (an IMTU MegaCorp) as a corporation's "security force" vessel.

It's basically a streamlined variant of the broadsword's specs using a hull not unlike the patrol cruiser (but larger). I used T5 rules utilizing Rob Eaglestone's Traveller5 ACS Shipyard.

I skipped one cutter and opted for one cutter and two extra modules instead (all cargo or open modules with the option of using mission dependent modules). The ship carries two Gigs and two G-Carriers (a Lopec or Resolve) which each can be carried in one of the modules if necessary.

Armament is similar to the Broadsword, as is Performance, Crew and such. In addition to the 25 Staterooms there are 10 Low Berth' installed.

There are 95tons of Cargo Bay still available for more modification if the G-Carriers were carried inside a module each. These could be replaced by ATVs or whatever suits your needs.

As the ship is streamlined the cutter is meant to deploy a single smaller team to a second location on site if necessary, or to provide for ship supplys or troop supplys. I'm sure there are advantages and disadvantages in the design, but I do quite like it. No deckplans yet.

BTW: If you find design errors or such, please feel free to name them.

Cheers, Mirco

 

[McPerth]

Near the end of its run MT produced folio adventures set during the Hard Times era.

One of these had a converted subsidised liner - 600t - kitted out as a starmerc ship.

It carried several fighters and a couple of smallcraft for transporting the grunts.

It is the Vigilante (Asignment Vigilante), a converted 600 dton type M subsized lineer whose cargo bay was converted to fighter hangar.

Aside from the fighters/landers, it carried 4 8 person squads of ground troops (being a liner, it does not lack staterooms for them).

It had poor ship to ship weaponry, fighters aside, and the fighters were grav powered, so had poor deep space capability (in fact, they were mostly interface fighters, with starship rated missile weapons).

 

[RandyB]

8 potentially triple turrets backed by a Model/5 computer and two armed cutters isn't enough ship-to-ship armament for you?

Ouch. I misremembered the armament on the Type-C. My bad.

My main point about the Type-C is that the troop complement is in excess of what I had in mind, even though I was in gross error about the armament.

 

[robject]

If 800 tons is too much for your needs, 600 tons (aka the Vigilante) would work out.

But you should make sure you don't need the extra space first. Rip out the extra accommodations and see if you can find good use for the space...

 

[RandyB]

If 800 tons is too much for your needs, 600 tons (aka the Vigilante) would work out.

But you should make sure you don't need the extra space first. Rip out the extra accommodations and see if you can find good use for the space...

Good point. Tonnage is less the issue than troop capacity. That, and the classic Type-C shape doesn't fuel my imagination.

And, as asked upthread, I really need to decide what version to use. Especially as this is more of a mental exercise/"solo Traveller" thing. I can immediately narrow it down to CT, GT, or MgT, in roughly that order of preference.

 

[robject]

Good point. Tonnage is less the issue than troop capacity. That, and the classic Type-C shape doesn't fuel my imagination.

And, as asked upthread, I really need to decide what version to use. Especially as this is more of a mental exercise/"solo Traveller" thing. I can immediately narrow it down to CT, GT, or MgT, in roughly that order of preference.

You can always adapt the Judges' Guild version of the Type C.

 

[Carlobrand]

Ouch. I misremembered the armament on the Type-C. My bad.

My main point about the Type-C is that the troop complement is in excess of what I had in mind, even though I was in gross error about the armament.

The CT Patrol Cruiser's 4 turrets, a model/3, 4G acceleration with enough power left after the lasers and comp for a couple of points of agility if you're in High Guard, a ship's boat for extra firepower or boarding, a squad of 8 troopers, a g-carrier for some dirtside work, and 50 dTons to play around with.

The CT Broadsword's 8 turrets, a model/5, 3g acceleration with enough power left after the lasers and comp for a point of agility if you're in High Guard, a pair of cutters and extra modules (which I have always considered bad use of good space), three squads of 8 troopers and a 3-man command team, and 128 dTons to play around with. If you don't like the size of the troops, you can eliminate a few, take on pilots instead, and make some conversions to make it a wicked carrier for little 6-10 dT fighters.

Sounds like you're looking for something between the two? 6 turrets, maybe 2 squads and a couple of ship's boats, that kind of thing?

Good point. Tonnage is less the issue than troop capacity. That, and the classic Type-C shape doesn't fuel my imagination.
...

Now see, I love that big ol' Type C sphere-on-legs, reminds me of a linebacker shoving his way through the opposition.

 

[RandyB]

The CT Patrol Cruiser's 4 turrets, a model/3, 4G acceleration with enough power left after the lasers and comp for a couple of points of agility if you're in High Guard, a ship's boat for extra firepower or boarding, a squad of 8 troopers, a g-carrier for some dirtside work, and 50 dTons to play around with.

The CT Broadsword's 8 turrets, a model/5, 3g acceleration with enough power left after the lasers and comp for a point of agility if you're in High Guard, a pair of cutters and extra modules (which I have always considered bad use of good space), three squads of 8 troopers and a 3-man command team, and 128 dTons to play around with. If you don't like the size of the troops, you can eliminate a few, take on pilots instead, and make some conversions to make it a wicked carrier for little 6-10 dT fighters.

Sounds like you're looking for something between the two? 6 turrets, maybe 2 squads and a couple of ship's boats, that kind of thing?

I didn't look at the Patrol Cruiser; it escaped my notice. But something in between, definitely.

And the small unit that I had in mind is essentially a Traveller expression (not a rigid carbon-copy) of the U.S. Army Special Forces A-Team, though I intend a broader set of career backgrounds (as befits a Traveller merc unit, IMO).

My mind keeps going back to the look and configuration of the 400t SDB from CT Sup7. That hull config in the 500-600t range would probably do. (Starship, of course, with all of the design implications of having a J-drive.)

 

[RandyB]

Having taken a look at the Patrol Cruiser... that fits my requirements to a (type) T. Especially when I found the variants on Freelance Traveller.

Thanks all!