Modern Container - Starship
- Thread starter Mithras
- Start date
Border Reiver
SOC-14 1K
You got a link to the original?
Border Reiver
SOC-14 1K
Found it. It's a scratch build, not CG like I first thought. Oh I like the Cylon Tanker.
far-trader
SOC-14 10K
far-trader
SOC-14 10K
I wish there was some info on the Subsidized Liner 
(or is that a not so subtle challenge to the other students of google fu...)
(or is that a not so subtle challenge to the other students of google fu...)
Ah yes, the Colonial Movers exist as a Solomani Sphere MegaCorp, save each one of those containers holds approximately a thousand Traveller containers...these are truly long distance haulers mainly commissioned by the Confederation gov't for transporting colonists Rimward.
Which size "Traveller containers" would those be? The 1.85 dton ones, or some other?
It is worth noting that in both the original and current BSG series, this transport ship is pretty much dwarfed by the Galactica...
OK, 5 dtons as the base unit makes more sense; that means 1d6 units on the old Minor Cargo table and d6x2 units on the old Major Cargo table, yielding lots of 5 to 30 dtons and 10 to 60 dtons respectively, and that portions out nicely into Cutter Modules and Shuttles for delivery...
But what, pray tell, hauls around those 1000-unit, 5000-dton supercontainers once the unstreamlined colony transport arrives at the destination and is ready to offload? Do the big containers pop open like seed pods so (carried) small craft can get in there and pick out the individual 5-dton units, individually or in blocks?
Did the calcs on "standard" shipping containers. For every 10' of length, they are about 1 1/3 (Traveller) dtons, so a 40' shipping container is 5 1/3 dtons, a 50' shipping container would be 6 2/3 dtons. Standard shipping containers are 8' x 8'6".
They use all that old cluster bomblet technology to drop the little containers from orbit and safely parachute to programmed GPS coordinates.
Very roughly, a Traveller container appears to match a Twent Foot Equivalent Unit (TEU) with double length TEUs (40') being the most common size currently in use. For most Traveller ships, a 20' container is hard to fit in the cargo hold and 40-50' units will simply not fit in most 'adventure class' ships. The larger containers will also be hard to handle on lower TL worlds or starports with few resources.
All of this favors small container sizes for Traveller games.
YMMV.
Arthur
well..I'm lazy and figured 1.5m*3m*15m to make it easy to draw on a standard 1.5m grid.
thats why I used the word "about"...mine has a smaller cross section; narrower but slightly taller...
The Hinterworlds Rambler
SOC-14 5K
The Colonial Movers ship, along with the "Three Circles" Ship and a very beat on Original Shooting Model of the Galactica were down at Universal studios in Florida for a while, before they wisely had it fixed. It was a wreck. A lot of the surface bits gone, lot of warping from storage.
Nothing could be as bad as what happened to the Ship from "Silent Running" which were nearly 30 feet long. Douglass Trumbull took a chainsaw to it as it was taking up space in his Garage!
Always wanted to make that Eastern Alliance cruiser from the old BSG. And have my own Viper. And one of those lasers. And a Cylon. And Lucifer.
Nothing could be as bad as what happened to the Ship from "Silent Running" which were nearly 30 feet long. Douglass Trumbull took a chainsaw to it as it was taking up space in his Garage!
Always wanted to make that Eastern Alliance cruiser from the old BSG. And have my own Viper. And one of those lasers. And a Cylon. And Lucifer.
They use all that old cluster bomblet technology to drop the little containers from orbit and safely parachute to programmed GPS coordinates.
Well not quite...but if you have ever seen the APC from Space Above & Beyond. One of these Megacontainers are fitted with resuable thrusters a la Star Wars (think Jedi ship) that will allow planetfall. They will be uplifted back into orbit by the trailing military presence. Or accompanying commercial enterprise that might want to set up franchaises for the new colonists.
However, IMTU, the Solomani rely heavily on quasi governmental agencies akin to Freddie Mac or Freddie Mae whilst Colonial Movers 85% of their business is government contracts and hence government regulated...they are a private concern but might as well be a state company.
Colonial Movers costs about the same as low berth, in fact, they make extensive use of low berths for trips greater than 6 parsecs. So, colonial movers usually travels in convoys of three along with a military escort of 1-2 cruisers when leaving the safety of the Sphere.
Nobody said life of a Solomani colonists ever was easy but the benefits outweigh the disadvantages. Namely full citizenship and the right to determine your destiny on a whole new world.
Having worked in a warehouse with pallets (but not containers unfortunately) I appreciate the blog link!
Icosahedron
SOC-14 1K
I created a similar houserule for containers, having 0.5 and 1dT pallets and 2,4,5 and 10dT containers. In later years I've tried to allow for 'packing space' when designing vehicles and ships, but some of my early designs, like the original Traveller ones, have 'magic packing' with 10dT boats in 10dT 'fitted compartments'.
Incidentally, does anyone know if MGT has fixed the packing anomaly in ship design?
Incidentally, does anyone know if MGT has fixed the packing anomaly in ship design?
Its still there, which makes ship creation fast and fun - but I suppose a 10% excess space rule wouldn't have gone amiss.
