MT Ship Design Spreadsheet Walkthrough

[AnotherDilbert]

Spreadsheet:
http://www.travellerrpg.com/CotI/Discuss/showthread.php?t=40275


We shall design a small patrol ship, something like 400 Dt at TL-12.

We start with the original spreadsheet:

We specify TL-12 and military craft with a positive number in cell A5.

We specify a hull with a displacement, 400 Dton, a configuration as a number from 0-9 corresponding to the config table.

We specify streamlining with -1 = USL, 0 = SL, and +1 = AF. You get as close as possible for this configuration, since all combinations are not possible. For this ship we choose 0 = SL.

We choose heavy armour in cell C14 by specifying a large number. We get as thick armour as possible for this TL.

In cell C17 we can specify that the drives should be oversized to allow operation with a drop tank. Drop tanks are specified by Jump number. Here we leave it at 0 for no external load.

 

[AnotherDilbert]

Power is allocated automatically. You can specify extra power in cell C20.

Batteries are specified in MW and hours of duration. The power plant will be reduced by the specified power.

 

[AnotherDilbert]

We specify locomotion systems in whole units, here J-3, M-3, and agility-3:

By specifying a desired agility power is reserved to give the specified agility. The required power is continually recalculated as the ship is changed.

For grav vehicles a grav suspension is specified in G:s. The type of grav thruster is specified in cell D28.

Resulting top vacuum speed is shown in cell C28.

 

[AnotherDilbert]

Fuel is specified in number of jumps and days of power plant fuel.

Power plant fuel is specified in three categories as described in Imperial Lines #1. Full power is for combat, Cruise is for accelerating, and Park/Jump is just to maintain life support in jump or while parked.

We add another day of combat power since this is supposed to be a combat craft.


If you want power plant fuel like in the core book, specify 30 days of full power and 0 days of cruise and park.

 

[AnotherDilbert]

Computer and controls are handled automatically. You can request a computer in cell C39, but the spreadsheet will choose itself depending on your request, TL, needed CP, and jump drive.

In cell D39 you can request a bis (-1) or fib (+1) computer.

E.g. to request a m/2bis computer you specify "2" in cell C39 and "-1" in cell D39.

In this case the spreadsheet has specified a maximum computer since we selected a Military craft earlier.

 

[AnotherDilbert]

Some Communicators and Sensors are defaulted:

You can change the number and type of systems.

Densitrometers can be specified as High Penetration with a positive value in cell D54.

Neutrino Sensors can be specified as a cheap Direction-only system with a negative number in cell D55.

The basic sensor difficulty is shown in column K.

 

[AnotherDilbert]

Empty space is allocated to Cargo.


Carried craft are specified by number of craft, type of craft, and number of crew per craft. Number of crew is defaulted depending on small craft, vehicle, and military or civilian craft.

We select a Launch and a GCarrier:

Launch tubes are likewise specified by type of craft, hence size.

 

[AnotherDilbert]

Screens are specified by number and factor:

Maximum factor is preselected, so generally we only have to specify number of screens.


We specify no screens for this small ship.

 

[AnotherDilbert]

Weapons are specified by number and type.

Ammunition consumption is calculated and space for ammunition is specified in rounds, by default 20 rounds for civilian ships and 100 rounds for military ships.

For turrets we can specify Type, number of batteries, number of weapons per turret, and number of turrets per battery. Factor for each battery is shown.

For Mixed Turrets we can specify number of turrets and number of different weapons in each turret. If you need several different types of mixed turrets, just copy the four entire rows and paste or insert below.


We specify a few turrets:

 

[AnotherDilbert]

Gun Turrets with vehicle weapons can be specified by number of turrets, number and type of weapon, and number and type of crew station.

 

[AnotherDilbert]

Since we have run out of space we have to go back and reduce the drives, e.g. to M-2 and agility 2:

 

[AnotherDilbert]

And we have a finished ship:

Some evaluation information is shown at the bottom of the spreadsheet.

 

[AnotherDilbert]

Grav Vehicles can be designed by specifying a displacement smaller than 20 Dt:

Here a TL-10 armoured GCarrier:

Locomotion is specified as effective grav thrust:

 

[AnotherDilbert]

We can specify some crew stations for passengers:

We can specify a gun turret with a plasma gun and a coaxial pulse laser:

 

[AnotherDilbert]

After hiding a few rows we have a finished grav vehicle:

 

[snrdg082102]

Morning from Roy, WA AnotherDilbert,

Your spreadsheet looks good. Thank you for sharing it and for the walk through.

 

[snrdg082102]

Hello AnotherDilbert,

Thank you again for sharing this spreadsheet.

I've run into a glitch with the spreadsheet when I enable iterative calculation. I don't have the spreadsheet open but there is something like #Value in the blocks, disabling the option I get the circular calculation message.

I also noticed that the spreadsheet does not include the cost of the bay that the weapon is mounted in. CT HG2 and TCS does include the cost of the bays, which I have verified.

 

[AnotherDilbert]

I've run into a glitch with the spreadsheet when I enable iterative calculation. I don't have the spreadsheet open but there is something like #Value in the blocks, disabling the option I get the circular calculation message.

This is an error message from Excel saying that it cannot calculate a value for this cell. With iterative calculations these errors propagate and can be very difficult to get rid of.

I can only recommend that you start over with a fresh spreadsheet. If you note what change caused the error I would like to know...

I also noticed that the spreadsheet does not include the cost of the bay that the weapon is mounted in. CT HG2 and TCS does include the cost of the bays, which I have verified.

It should:

Note that the bay costs MCr 21; MCr 20 for the weapon and MCr 1 for the bay.

 

[AnotherDilbert]

I also noticed that the spreadsheet does not include the cost of the bay that the weapon is mounted in. CT HG2 and TCS does include the cost of the bays, which I have verified.

I see what you mean, this is in the CT spreadsheet. I fixed it after we discussed it earlier, but didn't post the new version. Updated version with this fix is posted now.

 

[snrdg082102]

Morning from the Pacific Northwest AnotherDilbert,

This is an error message from Excel saying that it cannot calculate a value for this cell. With iterative calculations these errors propagate and can be very difficult to get rid of.

I can only recommend that you start over with a fresh spreadsheet. If you note what change caused the error I would like to know...

Thank you for the quick reply and suggested solution. My standard procedure is to download a copy of, in this case, a spreadsheet and then create a copy. The copy was what went wonky and before I checked my email I created a new copy which is currently working.

It should:

Note that the bay costs MCr 21; MCr 20 for the weapon and MCr 1 for the bay.

Apparently, my new eye glasses have not helped my vision.