Imperiallines Frontier Transport Type TI

[Gadrin]

I think I've got a decent Adventure Seed for that picture too:

Change that smidgen of civilization in the top left to trees and make it
a complete wilderness refueling on a remote planet that has atmo, some
water and virtually no population or gas giants.

Basic Premise: a J6 version of the transport is jumping between X and Y
which is 12+ parsecs distant, taking a load of 500 gold bars for Ling
Standard Products (which is heavy into mining). About 100 MCr (each
bar is 20 lbs and gold is 625 per ounce).

Item: The air/raft is a decoy pre-set into the area by someone nasty,
like McClellan Factors, or Arkesh or the Merchant Princes of Skull; who
have found out the secret jump schedule and cargo which takes place
every quarter. It could be marked with 3rd Imperium equivalent of Red
Cross markings.

Item: They approach the ship, staying clear of the weapon mounts and of
course take out the crew on the dorsal with Snub Weapons and Accelerator
Rifles. Then gain entrance. The air/raft has at least 6 armed men
inside.

Item: They then loot the ship and using Hans post, leave Vargr DNA
(swatches of hair) around, since the Vargr figure heavily in the region;
assuming it the Towers or The Traveller Adventure region of space.

Then the fun starts

Need to see if any planets fit the bill.

http://www.travellermap.com/sector.htm?sector=Spinward+Marches

Good prospect is Heguz, no GG and assuming business flows from
Regina -> Inthe -> Towers it's perfect for a J-6 ship like the
Frontier Cruiser.

http://www.travellermap.com/JumpMap.aspx?sector=Spinward+Marches&hex=2706&jump=6

Heguz System Information - E66A224C
-----------------------------------
Starport         E    E - Frontier Quality Installation. Essentially, a bare spot 
                          of bedrock with no fuel, facilities, or bases present. 
Size             6    6000 miles (9600 km). 
Atmosphere       6    Standard. 
Hydrographics    A    All water. 
Population       2    Hundreds of inhabitants. 
Government       2    Participating Democracy. 
Law Level        4    Light assault weapons (including submachineguns) prohibited. 
Tech Level       C    Above average Imperial.

I'd probably stack a few islands on Heguz enough to make it interesting for play
in the adventure; or dial-back the hydrographics-A to 8 or 9 and give it a landmass
that the ship uses from orbit as a guide to the surface. The equator sounds best
with a tendency for calmer seas in which to refuel.

Make sure the Imperiallines crew avoids the "general pop" with a small
self-serving "downport" of their own that's away from prying eyes (and
fits the Imperiallines penchant for secrecy or self-sufficiency).

If that's too "anti-canon" then use a extra-Marches world that's coreward and
within the reach of the Imperiallines ship.

Might be a good scenario for a TravellerPunk setting/game

>

 

[GypsyComet]

Geez. Take down the website for a few months and people forget you did deckplans for the TJ, this class's external twin.

The TI and TJ pages from RSB provide two pictures from very different angles.

The Long Liner from Early Adventures is NOT a TI, though it has similar body lines.

 

[Max]

There's also a pic in TNE:World Tamer's Handbook that looks somewhat different - flater with wings at the bottom and a curved area for the shuttle are visible in it.

 

[mbrinkhues]

Actually that is the same as the second picture in RSB. The first one shows the craft grounded at partially under water

 

[rancke]

Actually that is the same as the second picture in RSB.

Research Station Beta?

There are two books that naturally abbreviates to 'RSB', the Rebellion Sourcebook and the Regency Sourcebook. I suggest using 'RbS' and 'RgS' to distinguish between the two.

(Yes, I know which one you're talking about here).


Hans

 

[rancke]

I'd probably stack a few islands on Heguz enough to make it interesting for play in the adventure; or dial-back the hydrographics-A to 8 or 9 and give it a landmass that the ship uses from orbit as a guide to the surface. The equator sounds best with a tendency for calmer seas in which to refuel.

I forget where it was first made clear, but Hydrographics A worlds can have up to 4% land surface. Maybe even 4.99%. Unless there's a text description about the particular world that says it's entirely covered. Text trumps UWPs.


Hans

 

[Swiftbrook]

Geez. Take down the website for a few months and people forget you did deckplans for the TJ, this class's external twin.

OK, I'll bite. What website? Have plans ... post them to the gallary please. I'm very interested!

-Swiftbrook

 

[Gadrin]

Geez. Take down the website for a few months and people forget you did deckplans for the TJ, this class's external twin.

The TI and TJ pages from RSB provide two pictures from very different angles.

The Long Liner from Early Adventures is NOT a TI, though it has similar body lines.

"Early Adventures"

>

 

[Swiftbrook]

"Early Adventures"

>

"Early Adventures" is the reprint of the main adventures and supporting material from Traveller Digest 1-4.

-Swiftbrook

 

[GypsyComet]

I had a Traveller site on AOL for many years, until AOL decided to stop maintaining their ftp/web spaces. I intend to put it back up in a new home at some point, but its been an odd couple of years...
Looks like the Wayback Machine still has some of it:

http://web.archive.org/web/20001005094640/members.aol.com/gypsycomet/TJ1and2.gif

http://web.archive.org/web/20001005093307/members.aol.com/gypsycomet/TJ3.gif

http://web.archive.org/web/20000311225838/members.aol.com/gypsycomet/TJShtlBy.gif

The overview page has gone missing, however.

Those three files are the occupied decks of the TJ, minus the lift-shafts and engineering spaces on decks 4 and 5.

 

[Gadrin]

What other deckplans did you have ?

I've downloaded a few traveller sites to my harddrive using
WinHTTrack so I have them offline. Most of them are deckplans.

>

 

[Publius]

Very cool Gypsycomet, Here is a rough draft of what you just thoughtfully supplied in my deckplan style...

Probably missed something, it was a rush job (approx 30 minutes). Hopefully, you don't mind my posting this, if you do let me know and I will take it down.

For everyone else: Sorry for posting the extra wide image, I'm headed out the door and this took a bit longer than I had intended for it in the first place.

For anyone here who does 3D modeling, I'd like to work with someone on upcoming projects: I have two ships of my own design in process at the moment and a third which is based on the old Safari ship that I'd like to ask Mongoose about before I proceed any further with it. Unfortunately I am 3D modeling ignorant and a survey of the ships out there would indicate that this sort of thing is necessary for any product to get the notice it deserves.

 

[aramis]

Probably should have put it up at half that resolution... it's large enough that people will not be able to read the thread...

 

[Ran Targas]

^ What Aramis said Or post it in the galleries. All I can see is the dreaded "red X" of doom. Thanks!

 

[Publius]

"red x" because I simply removed it. When I get time I will re-size or what have you, but it was just something I did before I headed off to work one day to help the poster of the other images, not something I wanted to make into a major project.

 

[GypsyComet]

I caught it while it was up. Looked good, though it really needs the labels The big spinal cargo bay is two decks high, and some of the depicted structures make no sense if the viewer doesn't know that.

I follow a design ethic of simple presentation, with usefulness in a game paramount over any artistic merit. Its why I minimize color and prefer stark, visible lines, clear labels, and relatively few greeblies (though I've been known to "greeble up" engineering compartments).

 

[Publius]

I caught it while it was up. Looked good, though it really needs the labels The big spinal cargo bay is two decks high, and some of the depicted structures make no sense if the viewer doesn't know that.

Sure, it was intended as a preliminary, not a final product. Nevertheless, I do get the point. There were a few things I was not entirely certain about on the plans, such as which iris goes to an airlock and things like that.

Since you did not appear to mind my adding the images, here are the individual decks, with labels (where I was more-or-less sure). It is a very nice design.

I follow a design ethic of simple presentation, with usefulness in a game paramount over any artistic merit. Its why I minimize color and prefer stark, visible lines, clear labels, and relatively few greeblies (though I've been known to "greeble up" engineering compartments).

Agreed, I use a bit more detail than this for mine, but the design ethic is certainly mine. I'm not a fan of the Dunjunni style maps in broad use today. On a slick color page they look nice enough (still not my style but that is just an opinion), but if it is a PDF you end up killing your printer if you want to print it out. Likewise in B&W (which is how most of my work ends up being presented) that color-heavy mass becomes a black and gray spot in which various components are practically invisible.

I tend to place more interiors, beds, Freshers, etc. I have not here because this is where the work often takes the longest and involves the most adjustment/readjustment on my part and I wanted to remain true to your original as much as possible. I'm not trying to horn in and redesign. (although I admit I couldn't help myself when it came to the overlooking platform).

My own use of color tends to be minimal and functional. I use...

• Black for solids (walls etc.),
• Solid Dark Gray with no exterior lines for Drive and Power Plant components and other machinery-type stuff.
• Blue for stuff that does not take up the whole space, but does nevertheless occupy that space (tables, chairs, railings for platforms etc.). Sometimes I will use a shaded blue/blue line for something that is taller than waist-height (like the cargo bay doors or some components like gear lockers and that sort of thing) -- but that convention has not entirely been nailed down yet.
• Green for elevation (Stairs, elevators, platforms things like that the Iris doors here are blue when viewed from the side, green when they are used for elevation changes)

Often a dotted line means that something is either above/below, so that a dotted blue line usually means something that overhangs (but does not fill up the entire space, like overhanging built-in cabinets with bare floor underneath) and a dotted green line usually means something is above (so that the Overlooking platform line in Deck 2 is seen on Deck 3 as a dotted green line). With stairs I will use a light green triangle to point in the direction of the highest stair (which can sometimes look odd to people who think it means stairs up or stairs down but makes more sense from a design view, I'll add an "up" or "down" as appropriate) On the floor/ceiling iris I use them to indicate where they lead.

 

[Gadrin]

I know what you mean by adding a personal touch...

I'd prolly stick in things like catwalks over the cargo holds, only so I
could stage action sequences there -- ignore functionality and realism.
Make them moveable so that unusual cargo can be accomodated (or
at least re-configurable).

Traveller can be fun, but if it's all: roll dice, record crappy cargo
transport and decrement all expenses without some sort of interesting
happenings then I'm not sure it'll be much of a game -- unless that's what
you're there for.

Serenity wasn't a "supermodel" type starship, still she was fun to explore
and see how it was used, without every ep being over the top.

I'll have to re-read the ship's writeups, I'd also try to decide where to put
lifeboats or escape pods. The ship reminds me of a 747 (or a general airplane
shape anyhoo) and I can't see Imperiallines having a so-so, we don't care
about you crew manning her. Gotta think some safety features for the crew to
get from their present position to "safety" or get screwed because they
didn't leave breadcrumbs, or something. "The nose cone is modular...so just
don't be in the back if anything goes wrong" type of logic

Maybe I'm over-thinking it.

>

 

[lucasdigital]

I was back at my mum's place, digging through old files. Came up with my old deck plans from my TNE days.

Decks A,B
http://www.travellerrpg.com/CotI/Gallery/index.php?n=710

Decks C,D
http://www.travellerrpg.com/CotI/Gallery/index.php?n=711


Created back in 1993 while I was running a Traveller:New Era campaign.
I've no idea how accurate the plans are...when I think back to doing them I was doing the lettering on my Amiga 500's word processing package and sticking them onto my pen and ink drawing...cutting edge stuff back then

 

[Gadrin]

I was back at my mum's place, digging through old files. Came up with my old deck plans from my TNE days.

Decks A,B
http://www.travellerrpg.com/CotI/Gallery/index.php?n=710

Decks C,D
http://www.travellerrpg.com/CotI/Gallery/index.php?n=711


Created back in 1993 while I was running a Traveller:New Era campaign.
I've no idea how accurate the plans are...when I think back to doing them I was doing the lettering on my Amiga 500's word processing package and sticking them onto my pen and ink drawing...cutting edge stuff back then

Not bad <stolen>

>