Q-Ship idea

[mike wightman]

A 400t subsidised merchant hull converted to carry as many 10t fighters (better yet 30t 6g ship's boats) as you can get in the converted cargo hold.

Better yet, a 400t subsidised merchant with a battlefield meson gun in its hold... (it could be carrying a couple of grav meson sleds as cargo)

 

[Carlobrand]

Just an idea on the power plant & computer, scale usage. When the Navy puts a ship into mothball the power plant is put into an idle mode, just enough to operate one air lock, basic emergency lighting and the computer at a minimum level just enough to run the anti-highjacking program. Now these are military grade components and a true dedicated Q-ship would be a military ship so these options should be available. Just don't use standard off the rack components unless that rack is your local IN Depot.

As for those that say that "That can't be done." or "Computers don't work that way." My response is that in 3000 years anything is possible, just look at how far computers have come in the last 30 years.

Anything within reason is possible. If I start seeing gigantic chtonic deities wandering about, I gotta suspect we've exited the Traveller setting.

I don't see how a power plant in idle mode helps. We already have rules that describe how a power plant runs up from idle mode, don't we?

 

[Frankymole]

one of the biggest problems with a Q-Ship is lack of power (or being easily distinguishable from a real merchant due to your above-normal power plant)...limiting weapons mainly to missiles

what if there was a Q-Ship that was say, 400 dTon and looked just like a type R Merchant...and had two power plants; a P-1 and a P-9. This Q-Ship also has 2 computers ( a mod.1 and a mod.6) The Q-Ship uses the P-1 normally, until attacked or sees a known pirate. They then turn off the P-1 and begin turning on the P-9. Same for the computers. The computers presumably can switch instantly.

How long does the Power Plant take to power up? IIRC in Classic Traveller it takes hours (at least) for the PP to get going once initiated.

 

[Carlobrand]

How long does the Power Plant take to power up? IIRC in Classic Traveller it takes hours (at least) for the PP to get going once initiated.

Trillion Credit Squadron introduced the option to run the power plant at PP-1 but did not describe how long it took to run it back up to full power. CT Errata added a rule that set it at one turn for each power plant level until the plant achieves full power, during which time no power-using weapons or screens can be used and maximum agility is 1.

First I recall seeing a power-up rule was in MegaTraveller, where the Imperial Encyclopedia (?!) outlines a power up procedure based on skill rolls. The time to start it up is 3D6 times 30 seconds if it's warm (has been operated within the last 6 days), which makes it less than a turn in space combat time. If the drive is cold, it's 3D6 times 5 minutes, which makes it anything from 1 turn to 5. It doesn't talk about going from partial to full power though.

 

[sabredog]

Trillion Credit Squadron introduced the option to run the power plant at PP-1 but did not describe how long it took to run it back up to full power. CT Errata added a rule that set it at one turn for each power plant level until the plant achieves full power, during which time no power-using weapons or screens can be used and maximum agility is 1.

First I recall seeing a power-up rule was in MegaTraveller, where the Imperial Encyclopedia (?!) outlines a power up procedure based on skill rolls. The time to start it up is 3D6 times 30 seconds if it's warm (has been operated within the last 6 days), which makes it less than a turn in space combat time. If the drive is cold, it's 3D6 times 5 minutes, which makes it anything from 1 turn to 5. It doesn't talk about going from partial to full power though.

The long start up time is one reason missiles are important in combat. They require no power to launch, target on their own, are long range weapons, and all that gives time for the power to come on. If you are using plasma or fusion guns on the ship then you'll not only need a larger (read: takes even longer to power up) power plant to fire them up but they are only short range weapons so you need something more stand-off to buy time.

The downside is that the enemy may also use missiles and if your zoomy secret power plant is what you are counting on for anti-missile defense with then you are a sitting duck. You definitely need some ECM loaded in the computer before the fight starts. That shouldn't give anything away, though, since if you are already cruising in a Q-ship it will probably be in an area known for piracy or other problems and would be just a prudent move for a merchant.

 

[Carlobrand]

The long start up time is one reason missiles are important in combat. They require no power to launch, target on their own, are long range weapons, and all that gives time for the power to come on. If you are using plasma or fusion guns on the ship then you'll not only need a larger (read: takes even longer to power up) power plant to fire them up but they are only short range weapons so you need something more stand-off to buy time.

The downside is that the enemy may also use missiles and if your zoomy secret power plant is what you are counting on for anti-missile defense with then you are a sitting duck. You definitely need some ECM loaded in the computer before the fight starts. That shouldn't give anything away, though, since if you are already cruising in a Q-ship it will probably be in an area known for piracy or other problems and would be just a prudent move for a merchant.

Well, you're a Q-ship, ergo you started life as or are based on a freighter design, which means you likely have some cargo room. We've proposed a couple of ideas for generating power without neutrino emissions, the best of which I think was the hydrogen fuel cell. With its large volume and need for oxygen, it's not something I'd replace a power plant with (although it'd probably work fine for hops to the local moon and such) but it's a great way to have supplemental power for the length of a battle and bring it up fast without an attacker being aware of your extra capabilities.

 

[Carlobrand]

...Better yet, a 400t subsidised merchant with a battlefield meson gun in its hold... (it could be carrying a couple of grav meson sleds as cargo)

The battlefield meson projector lacks range for space combat, but it'd be a dandy trap if you could convince the opposition to come close - as for example feigning a surrender.

A problem I can see is putting it on target: you'd basically use the same indirect fire rules you use in Striker. Odds of a hit on the first shot are close to nil. You do have the advantage of going into personal combat rules at that range, so 30-second turns under Striker, so probably time for 2 or 3 shots before he pulls out of range after the first shot, but it's still a long shot to hit him. He'd probably be confused when his sensors first picked up an unsourced blast of gamma near his ship, but he's not likely to sit there while he puzzles it out.

Mmmm - odd thought. Occurs to me that the indirect fire rules might account for why it's taking 20-minutes a turn and why weapons need continuous power in space combat. If fire at space combat range is treated like indirect fire, and given that the targets are constantly maneuvering, then it can be a whole lotta shots for one to find just the right spot.

 

[Travellerspud]

It would be interesting if one could write a space-combat video simulation where the ships were over-sized (to be visible at all) and the ranges fore-shortened (visually), so it appeared that the ships were close but in fact they were 1-2 light-seconds apart. Then have the laser beams travel at lightspeed and missiles accelerate/home per Newtonian physics...the enemy would always be positioned 1-2 light-seconds in the past.

How hard would it be to actually get a hit?

 

[Carlobrand]

...How hard would it be to actually get a hit?

1. How big are the ships?
2. How fast are the ships?
3. How accurate are the weapons?

In one second, a ship will move a distance equal to half its acceleration. In two seconds, it will move a distance equal to twice its acceleration. Assuming the weapons are accurate and hit midpoint if the ship does not move, and that the weapons aim for the point they see and do not try to guess where the ship went, then it can escape damage if that distance takes the entire ship out from under that point. If it can't, then there is a 100% chance of being hit. If it can and the attacker attempts to guess where the ship will be in 1-2 seconds, then I think the probability is expressed in terms of the area of the ship cross-section perpendicular to the attacker divided by the cross-sectional area that the ship can travel in: pi*r², where r is that distance moved.

Ideal shape at that point is a pencil with the drives amidships and perpendicular to the pencil,so you always present the smallest cross-section to the attacker while being able to provide the greatest thrust to the job of moving out from under his fire.