Judges Guild: Maranatha-class Yacht

[robject]

Built with Traveller5.

Yacht Y-BB11 Maranatha MCr 60.4



Using a 200-ton, TL12 hull, the MC&S Maranatha-class Yacht mounts advanced A-series drives, giving a performance of jump-1 and 1G acceleration. Fuel tankage supports a 2 parsec jump, at 16t per parsec, and one month of operations. Attached to the bridge is a Computer Model/1. There are four crew rooms, one owner-aboard suite, and ten passenger staterooms. There is one empty single turret installed. Cargo capacity is 13 tons. The ship has a braced hull.

Carried craft include 1 Custom Fast Boat, 1 enclosed Air/Raft, and 1 ATV. The boat can carry the ATV. The ship has 4 crew (pilot/astrogator, engineer, medic, and steward), and can carry 11 high passengers.

Overtonnage: 7 tons
Crew comfort: +0
Passenger demand: +1

   Tons  Component                                MCr   Notes
-------  -----------------------------------    -----   --------------------
    200  Braced Hull                                6   B
     -1  No Landers                                 0
      0  AV=12. 1 Kinetic Plate                     0
     33  Jump Fuel (2  parsecs)                     0   2 parsec jump, at 16t per parsec
      2  Plant Fuel (one month)                     0   one month
    3.3  Adv Jump Drive A (R1)                     10   R1
      2  Maneuver Drive-1 (A)                       4   R1
      4  PowerPlant-1 (A)                           4   R1
      0  AR Surf Communicator                     1.5
      0  AR Surf Scope                            1.5
      1  AR Ant EMS                               1.5
      1  AR T1 Empty                              0.2
      1  Computer Model/1 std                     1.5
      2  Life Support Long Term                     2   40 person-months
      2  Clinic                                     1
      1  Life Support Luxury                        1   10 high passengers
      1  Life Support Adaptable                     1   10 sophonts
      6  Standard Bridge                          0.6   1cc 3op 2ws
      8  4x Crew Stateroom                        0.4   #4 1 crew
      1  Crew Common Fresher                        1   10 crew
      8  Crew Lounge                                0
     13  Cargo Hold Basic                           0
     25  10x Stateroom with Fresher                 6   #10 1 passenger
     40  10x Passenger Lounge                       0   #10
      4  Air/Raft Enclosed                        0.1
     10  Hangar Lock                                0
      4  ATV                                      0.1
      1  Grapple                                    1   1 pair per 35t
     35  Custom Fast Boat                          16   m1bis 3

 

[Grav_Moped]

Built with Traveller5.

Yacht Y-BB11 Maranatha MCr57.4

View attachment 2639

Using a 200-ton, TL12 hull, the MC&S Maranatha-class Yacht mounts advanced A-series drives, giving a performance of jump-1 and 1G acceleration. Fuel tankage supports a 2 parsec jump, at 16t per parsec, and one month of operations. Attached to the bridge is a Computer Model/1. There are four crew rooms, one owner-aboard suite, and ten passenger staterooms. There is one empty single turret installed. Cargo capacity is 13 tons. The ship has a braced hull.

Carried craft include 1 Slow Boat, 1 enclosed Air/Raft, and 1 ATV. The ship has 4 crew (pilot/astrogator, engineer, medic, and steward), and can carry 11 high passengers.

Crew comfort: +0
Passenger demand: +1

   Tons     Component                                MCr    Notes
-------     -----------------------------------    -----    --------------------
    200     Braced Hull                                6    B
     -1     No Landers                                 0
      0     AV=12. 1 Kinetic Plate                     0
     33     Jump Fuel (2  parsecs)                     0    2 parsec jump, at 16t per parsec
      2     Plant Fuel (one month)                     0    one month
    3.3     Adv Jump Drive A (R1)                     10    R1
      2     Maneuver Drive-1 (A)                       4    R1
      4     PowerPlant-1 (A)                           4    R1
      0     AR Surf Communicator                     1.5
      0     AR Surf Radar                            1.5
      0     AR Surf Scope                            1.5
      1     AR T1 Empty                              0.2
      1     Computer Model/1 std                     1.5
      2     Life Support Long Term                     2    40 person-months
      2     Clinic                                     1
      1     Life Support Luxury                        1    10 high passengers
      1     Life Support Adaptable                     1    10 sophonts
      6     Standard Bridge                          0.6    1cc 3op 2ws
      8     4x Crew Stateroom                        0.4    #4 1 crew
      1     Crew Common Fresher                        1    10 crew
      8     Crew Lounge                                0
     13     Cargo Hold Basic                           0
     25     10x Stateroom with Fresher                 6    #10 1 passenger
     40     10x Passenger Lounge                       0    #10
     30     Slow Boat                                 14
      4     Air/Raft Enclosed                        0.1
     10     Hangar Lock                                0
      4     ATV                                      0.1

The only question I have is the use of a Slow Boat instead of a Ship's Boat.

There are significant advantages to having a fast carried craft, as specced in LBB2:
1. Cuts transit time from Jump Limit (VIPs take the Ship's Boat to the destination as soon as the Yacht comes out of Jump, and/or the Yacht is pre-positioned near Jump Limit before departure)
2. It's an escape craft, if needed.

 

[AnotherDilbert]

With standardised small craft you can carry any small craft up to 30 Dt: Any Launch or Ship's Boat, either Fast or Slow.

Consider the cheaper Slow Boat the standard option, with the more expensive Boat as an optional extra?

Note: The jump drive can't be made smaller than a basic A drive by any stage effect. An Adv A drive is still 10 Dt, just a lot more expensive. It does save some fuel though.
A standard AR sensor is MCr 2.
You technically need a hangar per vehicle, at vehicle+10 Dt, or storage at vehicle+1 Dt (Interior/Hold). (B2 p87 Table G)

 

[robject]

This is a Yacht, so Fast Boat is indeed a better option. In fact the best option by T5's standards is a custom 35 ton Fast Boat.

Note that my redesign forgot to add the Grapples required to grab the Boat.

And I think we have to assume that the ATV is carried by the Boat.

And one of those sensors is the front antenna.

 

[AnotherDilbert]

If you carry a craft externally, in grapples, the ship is now 235 Dt and needs bigger drives. The Adv jump drive is OK, but the m-drive and power plant needs an upgrade.
You now have both grapples and "Hangar lock"?

 

[robject]

If you carry a craft externally, in grapples, the ship is now 235 Dt and needs bigger drives. The Adv jump drive is OK, but the m-drive and power plant needs an upgrade.
You now have both grapples and "Hangar lock"?

Small craft tonnage is accounted for in the design sheet.

And yes, for some reason I put a hangar lock there, even though the boat is clearly grappled. Maybe to float cargo in vacuum in orbit? I don't know. Overkill for the Air/Raft. Maybe it's just a way to have a tiny hangar space for the Air/Raft and some other tiny vehicle.

 

[robject]

It also has an unstreamlined hull, not braced.

 

[AnotherDilbert]

Small craft tonnage is accounted for in the design sheet.

But it shouldn't be, it's external, and hence drive performance should be recalculated. Craft tonnage should not be deducted from inside the hull of the ship.

B2 p117:
Renormalization
When the volume of a ship changes (by dropping drop tanks, changing the number of cargo pods, or adding or removing riders) the performance of the ship may change.
1. Note the jump drive code.
2. Determine the new tonnage.
3. Create new Drive Potential from Drive Potential-1

The advantage with external craft is that it is not inside the hull tonnage, you don't have to pay for the hull twice, and you don't waste as much space.

The disadvantage is that you need slightly more power from the drives.

 

[robject]

^ Yes, you're right, when the tonnage affects anything. I don't think it does in this case:

• The ship's hull volume is actually 172 tons. Ratings-wise, that has the performance of a 200t ship.
• A 172 ton hull costs the same as a 200 ton hull. In fact, it has all the same characteristics of a 200t hull except for volume.
• A 35 ton small craft pushes that to 207 tons.
• 207 is valid overtonnage, with agility performance penalties noted.
• So the ratings don't change with or without the boat.

Now. Even if the hull were actually 200 tons, and the smallcraft were tacked onto it, it's still a valid overtonnage design!
The problem begins at plus-or-minus 50 tons (IIpp51,52,63,70).

 

[robject]

By The Way, overtonnage is an extremely helpful mechanism for porting ships into Traveller5. It provides flexibility to accommodate the variation in tonnages inherent between design systems.

 

[AnotherDilbert]

^ Yes, you're right, when the tonnage affects anything. I don't think it does in this case:

• The ship's hull volume is actually 172 tons. Ratings-wise, that has the performance of a 200t ship.

Sadly, no. One quirk of the T5 ACS system is the standard components it comes in. Hulls are either 100 Dt or 200 Dt, nothing in between. Just like drives. If you want to make a 150 Dt hull you start with a 100 Dt hull and add a 50 Dt pod held in connectors, triggering renormalising drive performance.

B2 p70:
Starship Tons
Hulls are built in 100 ton increments ranging from 100 to 2400 tons.

Over/undertonnage is a different mechanism basically doing a very similar thing. You can stuff 120 Dt stuff into 100 Dt hull, with just a few penalties to agility and stability (atmospheric flight) but no drive potential change. But external pods or small craft are not overtonnage.


T5 may look simple on the surface, but by stacking modification system on top of modification system, it becomes very complex...

 

[AnotherDilbert]

• The ship's hull volume is actually 172 tons. Ratings-wise, that has the performance of a 200t ship.
• A 172 ton hull costs the same as a 200 ton hull. In fact, it has all the same characteristics of a 200t hull except for volume.
• A 35 ton small craft pushes that to 207 tons.
• 207 is valid overtonnage, with agility performance penalties noted.
• So the ratings don't change with or without the boat

You have a 200 Dt hull with 28 Dt undertonnage, but with an added external small craft, so counts as 235 Dt for drive potential. The undertonnage gives agility +2.

If I have understood the system at all, which might be questionable...

 

[robject]

^ Re agility -- you're right, and that's a good point. Also note that with the boat, it's overtonnage, and so suffers a negative agility.

I'll make a note of that. My software doesn't.

(We can talk about "when is a 172 ton hull not a 172 ton hull" separately.)

 

[robject]

Let's take this to its own thread; it sounds important.

 

[Spinward Flow]

it sounds important.

It also sounds suspiciously in line with the case I've presented for the advantages of external towing capacity ...

Combine external towing/tug/barge capacity with standardized containerization and you start getting variable cargo capacity at different drive performance levels. Of course, I'm attempting to follow that logic in CT rather than T5, but the principle is the same.

 

[robject]

^ That's true for all Traveller rulesets. The snare here is understanding when pods are considered part of a ship's volume, and when they're not.