Okay.
Now I think I'm onto something here.
This 97 ton hangar bay for 6x 16 ton Boxes plus a 97 tons capacity Collapsible Fuel Tank is just ... elegant ... as a bit of mathematical design. Enough so that I'm thinking it ought to be the "standard feature" for a J2/2G design @ TL=9 AND for a J3/3G design @ TL=10. This would then create an "upgrade path" in capabilities when moving from TL=9 to TL=10 and represent a sort of natural progression.
I was looking at math for both of these designs ... and thinking that I was close to optimal, but there was still a little bit of wiggle room to squeeze out a smidgen more capability.
The key point was the "leftover 2 tons" for the cargo hold in both designs, which seems like a strange thing to quibble over, I know.
But after taking some more time to think about it, I realized that what I REALLY wanted there was actually a 5 ton cargo hold, not just 2 tons.
So why 5 tons?
Well ...
A 5 ton cargo hold is "conveniently sized" to be either an
x-mail vault ... or an air/raft berth with a 1 ton remainder for anything else that might "fit" into that space (including 2x low berths or 1x emergency low berth). The convenience there is that not every starship is going to be eligible for postal contracts (or want to deal with the "hassles" of carrying
x-mail), or the mission profile for an individual starship will make a poor fit for making
x-mail deliveries (such as a Search & Rescue equipped ship and crew). The important point is to make the OPTION available, even if that option is not exercised in every instance by every operator of the class. The flexibility to make that choice an option is what is important.
Likewise, for some tramp operators (particularly those who flirt with illegality), when speculative goods arbitrage on the fringes of civilization is a priority, being able to dabble in the "small package trade" (a euphemism for smuggling) from time to time starts becoming rather attractive. Operators who intend to service "austere" locations (D and E starports mainly, but we don't talk about type X starports) where local services can be "lacking" ... bringing along your own air/raft as a vehicle runabout and cargo marshaling assistant makes a lot more sense.
So I bumped the tonnages for both designs upwards
just enough to be able to fit a 5 ton cargo bay into the J2/2G/PP2 TL=9 and the J3/3G/PP3 TL=A versions. Here's how the spreadsheet for both classes shakes out when doing the math.
Rule of Man Long Trader (TL=9)
236 tons starship hull, configuration: 1
35 tons for LBB2.81 standard C/C/C drives (codes: 2/2/2, TL=9)
68 tons of total fuel: 232 tons @ J2 = 47.2 tons jump fuel + 20(.8) tons power plant fuel
9 tons for TL=9 fuel purification plant (200 ton capacity is minimum)
20 tons for bridge
2 tons for model/2 computer
97 tons for hangar berths capacity
- Environmental Box = 16 tons
- Cargo Box = 16 tons
- Cargo Box = 16 tons
- Stateroom Box = 16 tons
- Laboratory Box (Type V-c regenerative biome life support) = 16 tons
- Stateroom Box = 16 tons
- 97 tons capacity Collapsible Fuel Tank = 0.97 tons
* External Docking: 364 tons capacity
- Escort Fighter = 16 tons
5 tons for Cargo Hold
= 35+68+9+20+2+97+5 = 236 tons + 16 tons (Escort Fighter) = 352 combined tons
Crew = 5
- Pilot-2/Navigator-2
- Ship's Boat-2/Gunner-2
- Engineer-1
- Steward-1/Steward-1
- Medic-3
Revenue Tonnage @ J2
- 3x high passengers
- 16 tons environmentally controlled cargo
- 16+16+5=37 tons standard cargo
- 48 tons additional cargo (when 1x Environmental and 2x Cargo Boxes moved to exterior)
Revenue Tonnage @ J2+2
- 3x high passengers
- 16 tons environmentally controlled cargo
- 16+16+5=37 tons standard cargo
Escort Fighter external
Drive Performances with External Loading
- 236 + 4*16 = 300 tons = J2/2G/PP2
- 236 + 22*16 = 588 tons = J1/1G/PP1
- 236 + 1.1*100 + 15*16 = 586 tons = J1/1G/PP1
- 236 + 1.1*200 + 9*16 = 600 tons = J1/1G/PP1
- 236 + 1.1*236 + 6*16 = 591.6 tons = J1/1G/PP1
- 236 + 1.1*300 + 2*16 = 598 tons = J1/1G/PP1
Escort Fighter (TL=9)
16 ton small craft hull, configuration: 1
5 tons for LBB2.81 standard A/A drives (codes: 6/6, TL=9, EP=2) (Agility=6)
1 ton for fuel (09d 21h 17m endurance)
4 tons for bridge (includes 2x acceleration couches for 2x workstations)
3 tons for model/3 computer (TL=9, EP: 1)
1 ton for mixed triple turret: missile, sandcaster, missile (TL=9, codes: 1/2/1, EP: 0)
2 tons for 1x small craft stateroom
* External Docking: 184 tons capacity
= 5+1+4+3+1+2 = 16 tons
Crew = 1
- Ship's Boat-2/Gunner-2
Rule of Man Clipper (TL=10)
310 tons starship hull, configuration: 1
55 tons for LBB2.81 standard E/E/E drives (codes: 3/3/3, TL=A)
123 tons of total fuel: 310 tons @ J3 = 93 tons jump fuel + 30 tons power plant fuel
8 tons for TL=10 fuel purification plant (200 ton capacity is minimum)
20 tons for bridge
2 tons for model/2bis computer
97 tons for hangar berths capacity
- Stateroom Box = 16 tons
- Stateroom Box = 16 tons
- Laboratory Box (Type V-c regenerative biome life support) = 16 tons
- Environmental Box = 16 tons
- Cargo Box = 16 tons
- Cargo Box = 16 tons
- 97 tons capacity Collapsible Fuel Tank = 0.97 tons
* External Docking: 690 tons capacity
- Escort Fighter = 16 tons
5 tons for Cargo Hold
= 55+123+8+20+2+97+5 = 310 tons + 16 tons (Escort Fighter) = 326 combined tons
Crew = 5
- Pilot-2/Navigator-2
- Ship's Boat-2/Gunner-2
- Engineer-2/Engineer-2
- Steward-1/Steward-1
- Medic-3
Revenue Tonnage @ J3
- 3x high passengers
- 16 tons environmentally controlled cargo
- 16+16+5=37 tons standard cargo
Escort Fighter external
Drive Performances with External Loading
- 310 + 1*16 = 326 tons = J3/3G/PP3
- 310 + 11*16 = 486 tons = J2/2G/PP2
- 310 + 43*16 = 998 tons = J1/1G/PP1
- 310 + 1.1*100 + 5*16 = 500 tons = J2/2G/PP2
- 310 + 1.1*200 + 29*16 = 994 tons = J1/1G/PP1
- 310 + 1.1*300 + 22*16 = 992 tons = J1/1G/PP1
- 310 + 1.1*310 + 21*16 = 987 tons = J1/1G/PP1
- 310 + 1.1*400 + 15*16 = 990 tons = J1/1G/PP1
- 310 + 1.1*500 + 8*16 = 988 tons = J1/1G/PP1
- 310 + 1.1*600 + 1*16 = 986 tons = J1/1G/PP1
Escort Fighter (TL=A)
16 ton small craft hull, configuration: 1
5 tons for LBB2.81 standard A/A drives (codes: 6/6, TL=9, EP=2) (Agility=6)
1 ton for fuel (09d 21h 17m endurance)
4 tons for bridge (includes 2x acceleration couches for 2x workstations)
3 tons for model/3 computer (TL=9, EP: 1)
1 ton for mixed triple turret: missile, sandcaster, missile (TL=A, codes: 1/3/1, EP: 0)
2 tons for 1x small craft stateroom
* External Docking: 184 tons capacity
= 5+1+4+3+1+2 = 16 tons
Crew = 1
- Ship's Boat-2/Gunner-2
The tech levels (9-A) on these designs are "low enough" to be plausible
Solomani Second Imperium (pre-
Long Night) tramp merchant classes competing with the older Vilani J1 Free Trader and J2 Far Trader class designs.
There isn't anything "inherently special" about these starship classes, in terms of unique technologies that are only found in limited pockets of charted space (or whatever). There's no "hyper military grade" technology involved (necessarily) which can be classified as "state secrets" that would prevent the class details from being copied/duplicated/recreated by different shipyards in different regions in different eras using local industrial bases. By the time that TL=C is starting to become widespread, both of these starship classes (TL=9-A) would very much be considered "civilian commercial grade" tech.
The Escort Fighter will undoubtedly have paramilitary (if not outright military) tech involved with its bridge/computer and weapon systems, since it IS a fighter design (go figure...
), but as technology levels advance beyond 9-A it will rapidly become "obsolete" in comparison to (cutting edge, higher tech level) military fighters on par with their tech level (which will need bigger displacements to accommodate increasingly powerful computers and larger power plants to supply the necessary EP for everything).