At Don's suggestion, I'm opening up a thread for more detailed discussion of the MegaTrav G-carrier. As presented in MT Imperial Encyclopedia, it's a 14.4 million credit beastie. In CT, they cost a megacredit. In Striker they were 2. Here, 14.4 and - most important - I can't make one happen out of the design rules.
What I get is this - and pardon, it's a cut-and-paste from the original post:
Hull: 8 dTon streamlined box, TL14 armor factor 10, 1.995 tons, Cr27,500
Power plant: 6 Kl TL15 fusion, 54 megawatts, 12 tons, Cr1,200,000
Drives: TL9 standard grav, 53 tons thrust, 5.3 Mw, 1.06 Kl, 2.12 t, Cr106,000
Performance: 1.1 G, top speed 120 KPH
(There are higher tech gravs available. They draw less power but, because of the power plant scale efficiency rule, there is power to spare and no benefit in reducing the power plant size. The higher tech gravs cost a lot more, and that in turn triggers major problems with control points, which are calculated from cost. Ergo, we stick with the older tech.)
Avionics: TL8 for 120 KPH NOE, 0.05 Mw, 0.4 Kl, 0.2 t, Cr106,000
Fuel: 13 kiloliters H2, 0.91 t. Provides 240 hours under full power.
Communications: TL15 System-range radio (wow!), 0.007 Mw, 0.014 Kl, 0.007 t, Cr150,000
Sensors:
TL14 V. Distant (50 Km) EMS Active Array, 0.050 Mw, 0.010 Kl, 0.005 t, Cr100,000
TL14 V. Distant (50 Km) EMS Passive Array, 0.010 Mw, 0.002 Kl, 0.001 t, Cr20,000
Weapons: TL15 RF-X, 42 Mw, 0.080 Kl, 0.080 t, Cr131,000
(This is silly. It doesn't have the armor to stand up to the kind of prey that needs this firepower, and it consumes 3/4 of the available power. I could shrink the power plant and cut the cost by almost a million credits by replacing this with a VRF gauss or an autocannon. However, it is what was originally installed, so it stays.)
Environment:
Basic environment, 0.108 Mw, 0.540 Kl, 0.540 t, Cr1,080
Basic life support, 0.086 Mw, 0.430 Kl, 0.430 t, Cr25,771
Inertial Compensators, 2.160 Mw, 1.080 Kl, 2.160 t, Cr27,000
(I don't see a need for inertial compensators in a vehicle whose top speed is that of a car on the Interstate but, again, it is what was originally installed. It has no artificial gravity, so the occupants are still floating when in orbit. It's not generating any forces an occupant can't handle comfortably.)
Controls:
2x Computer Model/0, 0.001 Mw, 1.000 Kl, 0.200 t, Cr120,000
1x TL13 Holographic linked, 0.002 Mw, 0.030 Kl, 0.020 t, Cr1,000
1x TL9 Heads up Display, 0.005 Mw, 0.500 Kl, 0.200 t, Cr20,000
(We are a wee bit short on control points. I get 257.5 verses 265.63 needed. We need two more holo-linked control panels, or one more if we ditch the inertial compensators. Note also that if we had gone with the more expensive gravs, we'd have needed a lot more control panels for them.)
Occupancy: 4x roomy seats, 0 Mw, 16 Kl, 0.080 t, Cr400
(I got tons of space here. 67.8 cubic meters. We can fit an additional 10 seats for the classic 14 and still have room for cargo.)
Cargo: 27 Kl, 27 t
As is, with the one control panel and 4 seats, I get a cost of Cr1,939,751, a far cry from the MCr14.4 suggested. (Loaded weight is 47.948 tons, so that's fine.)
If I kill the inertial compensators, add a control panel and put in 10 additional seats, I get Cr1,914,742, a weight of 46.007 tons loaded, and - oops, I've gone to 1.5 Gs and a top speed of 180 KPH. Still quite comfortable at cruise and no worse than a race car at top speed. (And, I've still got 6.37 Mw extra power.) I can drop it to around a megacredit, the CT value, and make it more like something I'd let the players use if I replace the plasma gun with something that doesn't draw power and shrink the engine.
Aramis suggested it was in the gravs, that there was an issue of tech level difference that might bring a negative DM to a person operating equipment at a lower tech than what he's used to. I can't find the reference, so I can't evaluate it effectively, but it doesn't feel right. I could see that DM applying if I replaced the holo-link control panels with, say, a mechanical or electronic control system, where the character was confronted with a wheel and levers and dials instead of the controls he was accustomed to. In this case, the control panel controls a device for emitting gravitic thrust: whether it's big or small, whether it draws a lot of power or a little, it still comes to the control panel as a certain amount of gravitic thrust emitted in a certain direction. It's like saying you're going to have difficulty driving because of two cars with identical power outputs and identical dashboard controls, one has a V-8 and one has an inline-6.
More important, it doesn't work. I try a TL10 grav, I end in the 3 megacredit range - way short. I try a TL12 grav, and I have to replace the Model/0's with Model/1's for control and end up north of 17 megacredits.
(Incidentally, the HUHD suggestion doesn't work for the same reason - the Model/0's can't handle the input. You'd need to upgrade to Model/1's.)
Question on the floor therefore is, "How do we fix this?"
My most conservative suggestion is: stick with the TL9 gravs, kill the unneeded inertial compensators, add another holo-link control panel to bring control to specs, and add 10 more seats since there's room for it and it brings the thing in line with its CT forebears.
My most radical suggestion is: kill the RF-X. There isn't enough armor here to justify taking this thing where that gun is useful. Replace it with a VRF Gauss or a 6cm howitzer, versatile mix of rounds there for the murder-minded PC. Then, chop the fusion plant to a 6 Mw plant and make it more like something your PCs might use than some sort of paper-armored combat vehicle. Or, chop the RF-X and use the existing power for more gravs and more armor, make this thing a proper combat carrier like the Striker grav carrier, instead of a bus with a tank gun.
What I get is this - and pardon, it's a cut-and-paste from the original post:
Hull: 8 dTon streamlined box, TL14 armor factor 10, 1.995 tons, Cr27,500
Power plant: 6 Kl TL15 fusion, 54 megawatts, 12 tons, Cr1,200,000
Drives: TL9 standard grav, 53 tons thrust, 5.3 Mw, 1.06 Kl, 2.12 t, Cr106,000
Performance: 1.1 G, top speed 120 KPH
(There are higher tech gravs available. They draw less power but, because of the power plant scale efficiency rule, there is power to spare and no benefit in reducing the power plant size. The higher tech gravs cost a lot more, and that in turn triggers major problems with control points, which are calculated from cost. Ergo, we stick with the older tech.)
Avionics: TL8 for 120 KPH NOE, 0.05 Mw, 0.4 Kl, 0.2 t, Cr106,000
Fuel: 13 kiloliters H2, 0.91 t. Provides 240 hours under full power.
Communications: TL15 System-range radio (wow!), 0.007 Mw, 0.014 Kl, 0.007 t, Cr150,000
Sensors:
TL14 V. Distant (50 Km) EMS Active Array, 0.050 Mw, 0.010 Kl, 0.005 t, Cr100,000
TL14 V. Distant (50 Km) EMS Passive Array, 0.010 Mw, 0.002 Kl, 0.001 t, Cr20,000
Weapons: TL15 RF-X, 42 Mw, 0.080 Kl, 0.080 t, Cr131,000
(This is silly. It doesn't have the armor to stand up to the kind of prey that needs this firepower, and it consumes 3/4 of the available power. I could shrink the power plant and cut the cost by almost a million credits by replacing this with a VRF gauss or an autocannon. However, it is what was originally installed, so it stays.)
Environment:
Basic environment, 0.108 Mw, 0.540 Kl, 0.540 t, Cr1,080
Basic life support, 0.086 Mw, 0.430 Kl, 0.430 t, Cr25,771
Inertial Compensators, 2.160 Mw, 1.080 Kl, 2.160 t, Cr27,000
(I don't see a need for inertial compensators in a vehicle whose top speed is that of a car on the Interstate but, again, it is what was originally installed. It has no artificial gravity, so the occupants are still floating when in orbit. It's not generating any forces an occupant can't handle comfortably.)
Controls:
2x Computer Model/0, 0.001 Mw, 1.000 Kl, 0.200 t, Cr120,000
1x TL13 Holographic linked, 0.002 Mw, 0.030 Kl, 0.020 t, Cr1,000
1x TL9 Heads up Display, 0.005 Mw, 0.500 Kl, 0.200 t, Cr20,000
(We are a wee bit short on control points. I get 257.5 verses 265.63 needed. We need two more holo-linked control panels, or one more if we ditch the inertial compensators. Note also that if we had gone with the more expensive gravs, we'd have needed a lot more control panels for them.)
Occupancy: 4x roomy seats, 0 Mw, 16 Kl, 0.080 t, Cr400
(I got tons of space here. 67.8 cubic meters. We can fit an additional 10 seats for the classic 14 and still have room for cargo.)
Cargo: 27 Kl, 27 t
As is, with the one control panel and 4 seats, I get a cost of Cr1,939,751, a far cry from the MCr14.4 suggested. (Loaded weight is 47.948 tons, so that's fine.)
If I kill the inertial compensators, add a control panel and put in 10 additional seats, I get Cr1,914,742, a weight of 46.007 tons loaded, and - oops, I've gone to 1.5 Gs and a top speed of 180 KPH. Still quite comfortable at cruise and no worse than a race car at top speed. (And, I've still got 6.37 Mw extra power.) I can drop it to around a megacredit, the CT value, and make it more like something I'd let the players use if I replace the plasma gun with something that doesn't draw power and shrink the engine.
Aramis suggested it was in the gravs, that there was an issue of tech level difference that might bring a negative DM to a person operating equipment at a lower tech than what he's used to. I can't find the reference, so I can't evaluate it effectively, but it doesn't feel right. I could see that DM applying if I replaced the holo-link control panels with, say, a mechanical or electronic control system, where the character was confronted with a wheel and levers and dials instead of the controls he was accustomed to. In this case, the control panel controls a device for emitting gravitic thrust: whether it's big or small, whether it draws a lot of power or a little, it still comes to the control panel as a certain amount of gravitic thrust emitted in a certain direction. It's like saying you're going to have difficulty driving because of two cars with identical power outputs and identical dashboard controls, one has a V-8 and one has an inline-6.
More important, it doesn't work. I try a TL10 grav, I end in the 3 megacredit range - way short. I try a TL12 grav, and I have to replace the Model/0's with Model/1's for control and end up north of 17 megacredits.
(Incidentally, the HUHD suggestion doesn't work for the same reason - the Model/0's can't handle the input. You'd need to upgrade to Model/1's.)
Question on the floor therefore is, "How do we fix this?"
My most conservative suggestion is: stick with the TL9 gravs, kill the unneeded inertial compensators, add another holo-link control panel to bring control to specs, and add 10 more seats since there's room for it and it brings the thing in line with its CT forebears.
My most radical suggestion is: kill the RF-X. There isn't enough armor here to justify taking this thing where that gun is useful. Replace it with a VRF Gauss or a 6cm howitzer, versatile mix of rounds there for the murder-minded PC. Then, chop the fusion plant to a 6 Mw plant and make it more like something your PCs might use than some sort of paper-armored combat vehicle. Or, chop the RF-X and use the existing power for more gravs and more armor, make this thing a proper combat carrier like the Striker grav carrier, instead of a bus with a tank gun.
