J3 TL12 non-warship?

[Blase]

Hi,
I am just starting a new campaign, and cannot find a decent non-warship J3 capable starship for my players.
I was thinking along the lines of Beowulf or Marava type trader, but something that can provide the team with longer range, even at the cost of cargo space and/or staterooms.
As a side note: deckplans for this ship would be appreciated.
Thanks in advance for all the suggestions.
Blase

 

[far-trader]

The standard Subsidized Liner is J3. 600tons, good cargo and lots of passengers. And plenty of deckplans around for it, on the web and in various books and pdfs* Have you looked at it? What else were you looking for as a ship for your players?

* pdf wise I highly recommend Loren Wiseman's dedicated publication for it, inexpensive ($3 iirc), a few variants described and drawn (again iirc, it's been a while since I looked at it), I can hunt up a link later if you're interested

 

[Blase]

Yes, I thought about it, but it is too large for my purposes.
I need something 100-200 dt, operable by a group of 3-6 members of the crew. Cargo and passengers not being the primary aim.
It's going to be used by a group of RC personel in the New Era setting, but the design is of lesser importance, since I can convert it. The group is able to operate a ship on its own now (4 of them), but can add some NPC's if needed.
So to sum things up, I need a scout/trader/yacht, 100-300dt, with some hardpoints or turrets (but not necessarily), capable of J-3 and available at TL12.

 

[madmike]

I have modified one of my 300dT Stretched Far trader designs recently to provide a J3/M2 performance. The installation of bigger jump drives is at the expense of the passenger/upper cargo space.

It is TL-15 though, so you would lose even more cargo space with larger, lower tech drives. Looks like a bigger version of the TNE Jayhawk class Far Trader (pp367, core rules)


Happy to put up deck plans like my other designs if interested.

 

[Gray Pennell]

Why not build it yourself? I am using the Scout Survy ship for my campaign. One thing I learned is all player ships need to be streamlined. Non streamlined ships puts pressure on the captain PC not to go into the adventure.

 

[Hyphen]

Lone Scout Enterprises will be happy to sell you either a Wanderer-class 500t J-3 trader (deckplans included), or a Scotian Deep-class Deep Trader (400t, J-3).

Does it have to be TL 12, though? The first is TL 13 (av. Imperial) while the second is TL 15.

Both are available at Beowulf Down, Tavonni, Spinward Marches 1520.

Go to my site, then:
--> Tavonni Specialties
--> Lone Scout Enterprises
and browse from there.

"To the discerning buyer, LSE offers something a little different..."

 

[far-trader]

Well just to give LSE a little competition might I suggest our Baronial Class Yacht at JDB?

http://www.travellerrpg.com/CotI/Discuss/showthread.php?t=3849



Just scroll down to the appropriate class for a basic description of the capabilities and customization options.

...ok, it's CT Book 2 and no deckplans given that each is unique. Perhaps in your players' case it could be an older traded in model, or the ship of their patron, a Baron naturally, or maybe even one of the player characters is a landless Baron.

I might take a stab at deckplans if the stats suit you. And I can find some time and inspiration.

 

[Icosahedron]

As Gray Pennell suggests, why not make it yourself? That way, you know it's exactly what you want.

It's a half-hour job at most with CT book 2 or 5.

Drawing out a deck plan is something you can do yourself in an hour or three in Microsoft Paint, and so many 'official' deckplans are full of errors and inaccuracies.

 

[warwizard]

He's doing TNE so FF&S 1's available.
What parameters on the acceleration and streamlining? Does YTU use thruster plates or is it harder in it's science? Do you need a small craft, Air raft, or an ATV, perhaps an armored g-carrier? Wilderness refueling capability? Will you mount a Master fire director to enable long range drone operations? Box launchers or a missile launcher for the drone/missile supply? Do you want the standard class III life support, or will you go with class IV and cut the operating expenses?

In short describe the features and abilities in fine detail and we'll generate the ship, then we'll work up some deck plans, and 3-view plans.

 

[Dragoner]

Hi,
I am just starting a new campaign, and cannot find a decent non-warship J3 capable starship for my players.
I was thinking along the lines of Beowulf or Marava type trader, but something that can provide the team with longer range, even at the cost of cargo space and/or staterooms.
As a side note: deckplans for this ship would be appreciated.
Thanks in advance for all the suggestions.
Blase

If you have access to the FASA stuff, they have a good amount of starships with deckplans in their adventure class ships series. The ships are canon as well, so easy to slip into campaigns, though you would need to convert them to TNE specs.

 

[Blase]

He's doing TNE so FF&S 1's available.
What parameters on the acceleration and streamlining? Does YTU use thruster plates or is it harder in it's science? Do you need a small craft, Air raft, or an ATV, perhaps an armored g-carrier? Wilderness refueling capability? Will you mount a Master fire director to enable long range drone operations? Box launchers or a missile launcher for the drone/missile supply? Do you want the standard class III life support, or will you go with class IV and cut the operating expenses?

In short describe the features and abilities in fine detail and we'll generate the ship, then we'll work up some deck plans, and 3-view plans.

Accel 2-3Gs, SL, no thruster plates, an air raft or ATV desirable but not crucial,
Wilderness refueling - yes
MFD - optional, not a must
missile launcher
laser turret
extended life support
J-3
Cargo space - 50-80 dt (650 - 1020 m3)

Generally designing a ship is not that much of a problem, as some of you have noted. I'm just completely graphically handicaped, so my biggest issue is the deckplans for that ship.
So, after considerable time spent on looking for a ship in official books (I have most CT, MT and all TNE) I came to the only reasonable conclusion: Go and ask people who know where to find it or how to do it, and with some luck someone will be able and willing to help you.
thanks,
Blase

 

[Omnivore]

Caveat: no deckplans (yet).

Using HG rules with the modification of allowing modular designs, the following design makes for an interesting player ship:

Ship: Lewis
Class: Lewis
Type: Frontier Trader
Architect: Omnivore
Tech Level: 12

USP AL-36323S2-000000-00000-0 MCr 187.632 300 Tons

Crew: 5 Fuel: 99 EP: 9 Agility: 2 Staterooms: 7
Fuel Treatment: Fuel Scoops and On Board Fuel Purification
9 DT of engineering reserved (3G upgrade or maintenance facility).
1 DT adjacent to avionics bay is reserved for expansion.
4 DT reserved for additional stateroom, workshop, or other facility.
2 hardpoints are provided with 2 DT reserved for firecontrol.
2 30DT open frame detachable modules (compatible with Modular
Cutter) are included.

Architects Fee: MCr 1.876 Cost in Quantity: MCr 150.106

The Lewis class uses a streamlined flattened sphere configuration, the two hardpoints are located outboard of the module bays on the port and starboard centerline.

 

[Rigel Stardin]

http://www.travellerrpg.com/CotI/Gallery/index.php?n=969

The Kavalla, 400 tons, 44 tons of cargo, with a 10 day duration (Jump 3: Duration divide by 3). Or you can do a write up on your own. Check out the Havarra as well...

 

[Carlobrand]

If you want small, the 100t. Scout/Courier can be had at TL12 under Book-5 rules with Jump-3, a Computer-3 to operate it, and no other changes, thanks to the volume disparity between Book-2 and Book-5 designs. It only has 5 tons available cargo. Some of the crew may have to double up - a scout only has 4 staterooms. You can use the good ol' scout/courier blueprints (which, like all supplement 7 blueprints, are not terribly accurate, but they serve). If you want a more accurate blueprint, adopt the Seeker blueprints, tag off the ore bays as fuel space, and use that section 13 - the room adjacent to the main hatch - as a crew common area/rec. room/meeting room.

 

[madmike]

Here is a TL-12 J3/M2 version of my 300dT far trader

Ship: Type A3Lc
Class: Type A3L Cargo
Type: Far Trader (J3M2)
Architect: Madmike
Tech Level: 12

USP
A3Lc-3432331-030000-20002-0 MCr 178.582 300 Tons
Bat Bear 1 1 1 Crew: 8
Bat 1 1 1 TL: 12

Cargo: 71.500 Crew Sections: 1 of 8 Low: 1 Fuel: 99 EP: 9 Agility: 2
Craft: 1 x 3T Air/Raft
Fuel Treatment: Fuel Scoops and On Board Fuel Purification

Architects Fee: MCr 1.786 Cost in Quantity: MCr 142.866

Detailed Description
(High Guard Design)

HULL
300.000 tons standard, 4,200.000 cubic meters, Close Structure Configuration

CREW
Pilot, Navigator, 2 Engineers, Medic, 3 Gunners

ENGINEERING
Jump-3, 2G Manuever, Power plant-39.000 EP, Agility 2

AVIONICS
Bridge, Model/3 Computer

HARDPOINTS
3 Hardpoints

ARMAMENT
1 Triple Missile Turret organised into 1 Battery (Factor-2), 1 Dual Beam Laser Turret organised into 1 Battery (Factor-2)

DEFENCES
1 Dual Sandcaster Turret organised into 1 Battery (Factor-3)

CRAFT
1 3.000 ton Air/Raft (Crew of 0, Cost of MCr 0.000)

FUEL
99 Tons Fuel (3 parsecs jump and 28 days endurance)
On Board Fuel Scoops, On Board Fuel Purification Plant

MISCELLANEOUS
10 Staterooms, 1 Low Berth, 1 Low Passenger, 71.500 Tons Cargo

COST
MCr 180.368 Singly (incl. Architects fees of MCr 1.786), MCr 142.866 in Quantity

CONSTRUCTION TIME
71 Weeks Singly, 57 Weeks in Quantity

COMMENTS
Dorsal missile turret can be controlled from ship bridge. No gunner is
necessary.

 

[Omnivore]

For doing deckplans on Windows at least, I just rediscovered AutoRealm and Sturn's tutorial plus Traveller symbol library.

Playing around with it now, it seems quite usable, fairly easy to learn, and it's free.

 

[madmike]

As a CAD user, this is of interest. I used AutoCAD for my stretched far trader deckplans.

I do note that the symbol link within the tutorial is severed.

 

[Icosahedron]

It's a half-hour job at most with CT book 2 or 5.

He's doing TNE so FF&S 1's available.

Ok, make that a half-week.

Generally designing a ship is not that much of a problem, as some of you have noted. I'm just completely graphically handicaped, so my biggest issue is the deckplans for that ship.

I can't draw a straight line with a ruler, but I found MSPaint quite intuitive and I created a number of deckplans with it. I made a 400T liner based on the Subsidized Merchant once. No 100-200 tonners though, I'm afraid.

 

[CosmicGamer]

What a lucky group to find a customized ship that meets all of their particular needs! Maybe the group flush with cash or have a generous patron that is making this ship that fits their needs exactly?

If not, why can't a used ship higher than TL12 be waiting for a good home. Maybe a 300T J3 TL 13 mining vessel that was in a mishap. The small mining company went belly up between not having their high tech flagship available and the lawsuits from the accident. The vessel was repossessed by the mortgage holder and just got repaired - mostly.

A ship that has some issues and needs re-purposing also needs a revenue stream; a good thing to keep the PCs needing to take on whatever adventures the GM drops on them.