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Mongoose High Guard Type R

Nightwind1

SOC-12
So now, Mongoose Matt is saying that the Fat Trader's launch is carried in a hanger, not externally? Every pic I've seen since 1980 has shown it as externally docked.
 
It was changed due to the new design parameters of MgT2e.

Just about every version of the game has messed around with ship construction and so some differences between editions is to be expected.
 
It was changed due to the new design parameters of MgT2e.

Just about every version of the game has messed around with ship construction and so some differences between editions is to be expected.

Then it should have a different designation other than Type-R Subsidized Merchant or Far Trader.
 
In MegaTraveller the type R fat trader is TL15 and cost MCr67.5, while in CT S:7 T&G it is TL9 and costs MCr100.
Different editions of the game, different stats, same ship :)
 
So now, Mongoose Matt is saying that the Fat Trader's launch is carried in a hanger, not externally? Every pic I've seen since 1980 has shown it as externally docked.

FWIW, there's a Type-R variant on page 47 of the TNE supplement "Star Vikings" that carries its launch in an enclosed hanger. This is not, however, its original configuration -- the ship in question was modified to serve as an "exploration cruiser" by the Dawn League.

I've always assumed that standard ship designs, like the Type-R Subsidized Merchant, have been around for centuries, but since they're in the public domain there's no reason manufacturers can't make various little changes, perhaps for no better reason than novelty, brand differentiation, or local stylistic preferences.
 
It can still be a "Type R" since that's just a performance spec.


That's long been my "explanation" for the slightly differing details between TLs and versions; i.e. X gees and jump Y at Z dTons is a Type-This while A gees and jump B at C dTons is a Type-That.
 
GDW made a strong case for that view in Traders & Gunboats, remarking that the Marava existed in both Type A and A2 variations. That immediately implies that Type spec is separate from Class, just as we see in the Naval designators in High Guard. Not all BBs are the same class. The Naval designators are a lot looser than the Types, but the Types still have wiggle room. Note that the original Type R does not specify that the Boat is internal or external. As such, the CT unnamed Type R, eventually named the Akkigish (in GURPS, I think) but also possessed of at least one TNE era class name, and the Mongoose2 iteration both qualify as a Type R.

Where the nonsense kicked in was when numerous fans decided to call their own version of the Type A Free Trader a "Beowulf" class, including some that look nothing like the art.
 
That's long been my "explanation" for the slightly differing details between TLs and versions

Not just your explanation, that is the 'official' explanation too!

The Types are specs - there is no 'STC' equivalent in Traveller, and once you consider the amount of time the setting covers, as well as the sheer size of the Imperium, variations are not only possible but inevitable. We have been thinking about a book covering nothing but Type-S variations for a while now...
 
There are standard hulls in CT - and from them the implication that said standard hulls are common throughout the Imperium. There is also the fact that the ship type standard designs get a 10% discount which also suggests standardisation throughout the Imperium. Finally you can buy the plans for any standard design for Cr100 to be built at any world that can build starships - the original is a TL9 design. As soon as you deviate from that standard design it is going to cost you a lot of money - your hull will cost you MCr40 instead of MCr16, you will not get the 10% discount on final cost, and the architect will cost you an additional 1% for the final ship.

I accept that the MgT Third Imperium is an alternative universe to the Third Imperium of CT times and thus such standardisation does not exist, but it once again promotes a different between the CT/GDW 3I setting and the MgT 3I setting.

As I said upthread this is not exactly a new thing, DGP re=imaged ships due to their ship design system changes, and TNE stirred the pot too.

If you are playing a game of Traveller using MgT rules in the MgT vision of the 3I then there are different versions of common ship types across the Imperium which have similar stats but slightly different details - I think that probably makes a lot more sense than a 11,000 world empire where every Fat Trader is exactly the same...
 
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So now, Mongoose Matt is saying that the Fat Trader's launch is carried in a hanger, not externally? Every pic I've seen since 1980 has shown it as externally docked.
The illustration in HG shows a ship with an external launch, just like in CT.

Just like in CT the design specifies an internal hangar, but shows an externally carried launch. I would say the similarity is remarkable.
 
The illustration in HG shows a ship with an external launch, just like in CT.

Just like in CT the design specifies an internal hangar, but shows an externally carried launch. I would say the similarity is remarkable.

To quote The Traveller Adventure:

"Riding piggyback on the upper surface of the ship is its 20 ton launch."

(bolding is mine)
 
To quote The Traveller Adventure:
"Riding piggyback on the upper surface of the ship is its 20 ton launch."
Quite, but there is no way to design a ship with external craft in CT (except Dispersed configuration).

Such petty details were up to the designer, I guess MgT2 HG use the same logic...
 
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