epicenter00
SOC-13
I don't think a ship even has to crash to become to become a building of some sort. It simply has to be worth it to someone as a place to live instead of scrap metal (I always figure since this is Traveller it's the retrofuture so they still use metal for starships). Corporate-owned ships probably often end up at the boneyard, but privately owned vessels probably have much stranger ends.
I also once read in an article that various cash-strapped Eastern European countries had a horrible time getting rid of old T-55 tanks. They couldn't sell them on the international arms market (international agreements), so they had to break them down to fulfill agreements with the western powers for various loans and so on. However, apparently T-55s are so durable that it's so much trouble to break them down that you'll never make back the money you spend on scrapping them. These governments were cash-strapped at the time, so the cost of disposing of these tanks was an egregious burden. While the article went on to explain they were going to try marketing them as firefighting vehicles and other things, the basic gist might be applicable to Traveller: With these super-durable hulls, these starships might be like T-55 tanks. Once the interior fittings have been removed, the basic hull is simply not economical to scrap. It might even be a frequent thing that news stories like to cover every now again, "where do all those starships go?" If you have to pay the salvage yard to get rid of your starship, the economics change hugely; it might be a "thing" to rent a hangar for a starship for a month, have a secret firesale to sell off all the interior components that can be easily removed to other Free Traders then you just skip and make what's left someone else's problem. Then such starships-into-homes or starships-into-businesses might be pretty common around starports. Similarly, if it can only be economically done with high-energy equipment that isn't found on many worlds, itinerant ship-breaker might be a career in Traveller. You fly around in a TL15 Seeker going from world to world seeing if they have starships for you to break down using your powerful TL15 fusion-torch and fusion-crucible. Because your TL15 equipment is so much more efficient than TL12 stuff, you can make a slim profit breaking down ships and selling the refined metals (which your Seeker can do) to local industry; it might be a common job amongst down-on-their-luck Seekers.
As homes, such starship hulls are much nicer than a shipping container and much roomier than a small craft. Starships were formerly intended for long-term inhabitation, so there's much less modification you have to do. That massively durable hull means your home repair bills and upkeep are probably going to be pretty cheap for a looong time, it's especially appealing as on worlds with things like sandstorms or other kinds of inclement weather. Since the hull was originally intended for space travel, with some basic thought put into its foundation it might be pretty earthquake resistant. It's probably a common in Imperial-era "home decorator" magazines to see various peoples conversions of starships into homes, the cockpit turned into a reading room / study / or even a greenhouse, the cargo loading bay turned into a patio, etc.
It may be a pretty common sight on less inhabited worlds as a kind of Traveller-era mobile home or houseboat.
In one example, someone buys a ship in the extreme twilight of its years, equips it for one last flight somewhere, then lands in a good spot (perhaps some land you bought / given as a fief / or just claim if it is an 'open' world) and turn the ship into a home. Local governments might have special dispensations for ships used this way. Free Traders might make circuits of such worlds offering to buy things like Jump Drives, sensor arrays, flight computers, and fusion reactors. In return these Free Traders might have smaller fusion reactors ('hey that ship isn't going anywhere, instead of the 250MW marine fusion reactor, I can sell you this brand-new Tukera Fusion Products F1020 which is a maintenance-free for the first fifty years Vilani design, it's only 5MW, but it's not like you even need 1MW. I've also got some long-term house foundations to replace the landing gear you're using now, won't rust and won't need lubrication...')
Downports on high-tech worlds might have entire districts of such starships like a cross between Civil Aviation areas of airports and mobile home / houseboat parks. They'd be filled with starships whose owners rarely show up as well as owners who have lived in their lot for years or even decades. Some claim they're working jobs on the world to earn enough money to replace some component or another and take the ship back to the stars, others might openly admit they're just living there. These starports would accept such a thing happening and provided they pay the applicable fees. It might be pretty common to have such places be the "old spacer's districts" filled with old ship owners living out the ends of their lives.
I also once read in an article that various cash-strapped Eastern European countries had a horrible time getting rid of old T-55 tanks. They couldn't sell them on the international arms market (international agreements), so they had to break them down to fulfill agreements with the western powers for various loans and so on. However, apparently T-55s are so durable that it's so much trouble to break them down that you'll never make back the money you spend on scrapping them. These governments were cash-strapped at the time, so the cost of disposing of these tanks was an egregious burden. While the article went on to explain they were going to try marketing them as firefighting vehicles and other things, the basic gist might be applicable to Traveller: With these super-durable hulls, these starships might be like T-55 tanks. Once the interior fittings have been removed, the basic hull is simply not economical to scrap. It might even be a frequent thing that news stories like to cover every now again, "where do all those starships go?" If you have to pay the salvage yard to get rid of your starship, the economics change hugely; it might be a "thing" to rent a hangar for a starship for a month, have a secret firesale to sell off all the interior components that can be easily removed to other Free Traders then you just skip and make what's left someone else's problem. Then such starships-into-homes or starships-into-businesses might be pretty common around starports. Similarly, if it can only be economically done with high-energy equipment that isn't found on many worlds, itinerant ship-breaker might be a career in Traveller. You fly around in a TL15 Seeker going from world to world seeing if they have starships for you to break down using your powerful TL15 fusion-torch and fusion-crucible. Because your TL15 equipment is so much more efficient than TL12 stuff, you can make a slim profit breaking down ships and selling the refined metals (which your Seeker can do) to local industry; it might be a common job amongst down-on-their-luck Seekers.
As homes, such starship hulls are much nicer than a shipping container and much roomier than a small craft. Starships were formerly intended for long-term inhabitation, so there's much less modification you have to do. That massively durable hull means your home repair bills and upkeep are probably going to be pretty cheap for a looong time, it's especially appealing as on worlds with things like sandstorms or other kinds of inclement weather. Since the hull was originally intended for space travel, with some basic thought put into its foundation it might be pretty earthquake resistant. It's probably a common in Imperial-era "home decorator" magazines to see various peoples conversions of starships into homes, the cockpit turned into a reading room / study / or even a greenhouse, the cargo loading bay turned into a patio, etc.
It may be a pretty common sight on less inhabited worlds as a kind of Traveller-era mobile home or houseboat.
In one example, someone buys a ship in the extreme twilight of its years, equips it for one last flight somewhere, then lands in a good spot (perhaps some land you bought / given as a fief / or just claim if it is an 'open' world) and turn the ship into a home. Local governments might have special dispensations for ships used this way. Free Traders might make circuits of such worlds offering to buy things like Jump Drives, sensor arrays, flight computers, and fusion reactors. In return these Free Traders might have smaller fusion reactors ('hey that ship isn't going anywhere, instead of the 250MW marine fusion reactor, I can sell you this brand-new Tukera Fusion Products F1020 which is a maintenance-free for the first fifty years Vilani design, it's only 5MW, but it's not like you even need 1MW. I've also got some long-term house foundations to replace the landing gear you're using now, won't rust and won't need lubrication...')
Downports on high-tech worlds might have entire districts of such starships like a cross between Civil Aviation areas of airports and mobile home / houseboat parks. They'd be filled with starships whose owners rarely show up as well as owners who have lived in their lot for years or even decades. Some claim they're working jobs on the world to earn enough money to replace some component or another and take the ship back to the stars, others might openly admit they're just living there. These starports would accept such a thing happening and provided they pay the applicable fees. It might be pretty common to have such places be the "old spacer's districts" filled with old ship owners living out the ends of their lives.
Last edited:
