Pre-Flight Checks

[Shadow Shack]

> preferably CT, but I'm just looking for something official from somewhere if push comes to shove



Is there a canon ruling for preflight checks? As in how many minutes/hours does it take to prep a ship for lift off (or launch from an orbital station, whichever the case may be)? And if so are there penalties for a quick dust-off? Personally I'd like to think it's not measured in days as was the case with the NASA launches, but at the same time I would be disappointed to learn it was "just hop into the cockpit and go" like we see on TV & movies.

Unless there's a canon rule I'm inclined to use something to the effect of (1D per 100DT)+2D minutes.

 

[The Oz]

DGP has their "Starship Operator's Manual" which is aimed at MT but easily useable with CT.

 

[willtron3030]

Unless there's a canon rule I'm inclined to use something to the effect of (1D per 100DT)+2D minutes.

Perhaps divide that by the size of the deck and engineering watch (on that watch, not total), or maybe the square root of same.

That is probably less than the time to the 100D limit, so it's baked in.

 

[AnotherDilbert]

MT Imperial Encyclopedia p92 has some tasks for powering up the power plant and preparing the M-drive.

The basic time increment for a cold start is 5 min, so it might take about an hour to complete, if you neither hurry nor are especially careful.

 

[whulorigan]

Is there a canon ruling for preflight checks? As in how many minutes/hours does it take to prep a ship for lift off (or launch from an orbital station, whichever the case may be)? And if so are there penalties for a quick dust-off? Personally I'd like to think it's not measured in days as was the case with the NASA launches, but at the same time I would be disappointed to learn it was "just hop into the cockpit and go" like we see on TV & movies.

A number of ship operations are detailed in GT:Far Trader, p.53-78 that are worth a read, but I didn't find anything explicitly about what you are looking for.

See p.61-63 (Sidebar), and p.67.

 

[Spinward Scout]

Give this a shot. Modify to fit YTU.

Starship Checklist

Spaceframe
- hull integrity
- outer control surfaces
- ship's markings
Ground Gear
- landing gear
- exterior lighting
- exterior hatches
Life Support
- air recycling
- air distribution
- temperature control
- gravity systems
- food and water
- waste
Non-essential Systems
- vehicles
- ship's locker
- passenger support/purser services
- cargo
Power Plant
- fusion control systems
- main electrical distribution
- backup batteries
Bridge
- main control systems
- backup control systems
- communications
Avionics
- flight systems
Computer
- program integrity
Maneuver Drive
- thruster output
- thruster control
Jump Drive
- jump grid?
- zuchai crystals?
Sensors
- active focus systems
- passive scan systems
Ship's Weapons
- energy projection systems
- targeting systems
- onboard ammunition and sand

 

[Maksim-Smelchak]

Is there a canon ruling for preflight checks?

Sort yes and no. This has been done a number of times over the years. And as usual, the different takes on it are each different, sometimes very different from each other.

I use the MegaTraveller (MT) era rules most often. By the way, preflight checks were done several times just within MegaTrav and some of the different takes could be very different to each other. I defer to the core books of MT.

Unless there's a canon rule I'm inclined to use something to the effect of (1D per 100DT)+2D minutes.

Enjoy! The joy of each of us interpreting the rules as we will... is that we can all enjoy it just as we like it. Have fun!

Shalom,
M.

 

[aramis]

> preferably CT, but I'm just looking for something official from somewhere if push comes to shove



Is there a canon ruling for preflight checks? As in how many minutes/hours does it take to prep a ship for lift off (or launch from an orbital station, whichever the case may be)? And if so are there penalties for a quick dust-off? Personally I'd like to think it's not measured in days as was the case with the NASA launches, but at the same time I would be disappointed to learn it was "just hop into the cockpit and go" like we see on TV & movies.

Unless there's a canon rule I'm inclined to use something to the effect of (1D per 100DT)+2D minutes.

The back of the MT Imperial Encyclopedia gives times for checks, etc.

 

[kilemall]

CT HG has the 1 power level per 1000s rule, which I guess is the fusion equivalent of steaming up.


I would assume a lot of this happens during the week downtime as detail items- fuel systems checked as fuel loaded, life support systems checked as supplies are onboarded, engineering checked and tagged to go pretty early on just in case, etc. Checklists then are largely going over that everyone has done all these subtasks.


Another factor, a lot of this work is too much for the sort of commercial flight crews the game postulates. Things like a lot more robust automation, reliability we can only dream of,



Another direction could be that starports automatically provide these services built into the starport fee and refined fuel costs. When checklisting at more primitive starports, there just aren't those sort of services and the ship operator either has to arrange/cajole local people to do it, or they have to do it and it takes that much more time/opportunity for failure.