Restrict Ship Sizes?
- Thread starter casquilho
- Start date
Condottiere
SOC-14 5K
Generally speaking, hero ships are on the lighter side, unless you join the military.
There are exceptions, but it's easier for the Dungeon Master to come up with the deckplans of smaller spacecraft.
There are exceptions, but it's easier for the Dungeon Master to come up with the deckplans of smaller spacecraft.
casquilho
SOC-13
Great point, the setting could encourage either way. Nice thought.
The creator of the Zimm Drive in the Clement Sector setting was a man named Johann Zimm. He also liked naming things after himself. So Zimm Points. Zimmspace. Zimm Drive. That sort of thing.
More specifically, it's the other dimension you drop into when using an Outgoing Zimm Point to get to an Incoming Zimm Point.
All of this is from the Clement Sector RPG.
Spinward Flow
SOC-14 5K
Smaller ships = smaller crews = smaller overhead expenses
When you've got 1k+ ton starships that require 10 crew per 1k tons, you stop having "small party problems" and instead get "business entanglements" that turn starship services into "railroads" at the higher end (as far as the PCs are concerned). The sheer expense of keeping LARGE starships operational in the black becomes an all consuming (financial) force (slash liability) such that PCs can't "go off route to enjoy adventures" away from the trade route they've been assigned to run (and make profits from). You've also got a "large crew" who can't afford to have their livelihoods wrecked by a command staff who go haring off after wild goose chases based on rumors (the standard/reliable source for adventure hooks, aside from patrons).
Basically, the larger starships get "bound by obligations" that are too large to set aside "responsibly" while the PCs go chasing after an adventure thread. Hence, all the Adventure Class Ships (ACS) will typically fall into the "bottom half" of the 100-1000 ton range ... with the 100 ton (cheap as possible) and 200 ton (minimum merchants) selections being the most common, since they're so entry level as to "not mean much in the grand scheme of things" on the subsector and sector level.
Mind you, adventuring is a lot like speculative goods arbitrage ... sometimes there can be a big payoff ... and other times you go bankrupt in the attempt. All adventures are inherently "risky" rather than being a "sure thing" for a starship operator. Smaller ships can "take those risks" on the side, but LARGER ships cannot "afford" to deviate from their specified route to indulge in such whimsical opportunism ... the obligations of the larger ships are simply too high to take the "risk" that adventuring can entail.
Condottiere
SOC-14 5K
Hit a hundred kilotonnes, and you can downsize by two thirds.
mike wightman
SOC-14 10K
Just for completeness here is the max ship size derived from HG80.
| TL | 7->8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 |
| computer | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 |
| hull code | C | J | N | Q | X | Y | Z | Z |
| tonnage | 3,999t | 9,999t | 49,999t | 99,999t | 999,999t | 1,000,000t+ | unlim. | unlim. |
It all depends on what sort of game we are playing. (All designs were done if T4's FF&S, and colonies per world tamer's handbook). When we were specifying a budget and mission each of us would be given a world to start from, developing a backstory era and everything else about the planet, so that we could approach the design of the ships to accomplish the mission from a culturial outlook. If establishing a new colony on another planet as a resourse extraction site for a pop 6 TL 9 world, obviously the ships are going to be small and the population would be no higher than 3. But if we were doing a dawn of earth campaign covering the years between the development of the jump drive and encountering the Imperials. Each country would build and send thier own hastilly designed scouts, with followup ships of larger size and longer build times, Each time you come back from a mission there is something newly invented and lucky you get to have it installed on your already experimental scout, or you can take out the somewhat larger ship without the latest doodad. For example when have the russans ever turned down the chance of putting a cannon on thier space ship, I can just imagine the russian scout ship has three "fighters" mounting high velocity 122 mm anti tank guns and 10 rounds with APHE rounds. (yes wrong ammo type for space combat should be proximity fuzed flak). TLDR I have seen my sons and I play with tiny ships as well as 30,000 tons. Whatever fit the scenario.
The other thing is that once you slide a megafreigher into a niche market, the arbitrage opportunity (and thus the profits that sustain megafreighters) goes away.
You don't commit something that costly to an "it only works once" opportuity -- you need to be able to chain an indefinite series of them together, or you can't keep the ship going.
I've also considered something along the "Alien" model - in that, starships tend to be smaller, but are used to haul/transport the bulk materials in larger carriers - effectively barges without their own drives etc. Never tried to model it on the book rules though.
IMHO this would let the "small ship merchants" still have a role, moving those cargos that are needed "faster" than a plodding travel route, require special handling, or just don't move in enough volume to require a bulk carrier. Similar to modern society, where some things are shipped air cargo while others take the longer sea voyage.
IMHO this would let the "small ship merchants" still have a role, moving those cargos that are needed "faster" than a plodding travel route, require special handling, or just don't move in enough volume to require a bulk carrier. Similar to modern society, where some things are shipped air cargo while others take the longer sea voyage.
Spinward Flow
SOC-14 5K
Ask and ye shall receive ...
In my mind megafrieghters aren’t necessarily shipping cargo but freight. As in the ship (or even the company that owns the ship) doesn’t own the items being shipped.
There’s likely a lot of stuff travelling between worlds. This can range between space Amazon packages to that air/raft some rich noble in hellholeistan bought to raw materials and widgets specifically ordered for industrial use.
Obviously the megafreighters are only going between worlds with a lot of shipment and are certainly going to be on long term contracts to ensure at least some profitability.
The small ship universe is the universe at worm's eye view, the universe as seen from the player's eyes. The big ship universe is off in the background. Just because you've got 747s doesn't mean you won't see small operations doing charter flights with Cessnas. It's hard to imagine places like Trin and Mora not being served by big ships.
Spinward Flow
SOC-14 5K
All part of the service. ^_~I should have known one of the more knowledgable has already explored this
Marcatlas
SOC-12
Bingo! Just like in today's world. The giant "cargo ships" are dedicated "freighters". They don't come to a port and search for spec cargo. Everything is preplanned for the fastest turnaround of unloaded and loaded freight.
mike wightman
SOC-14 10K
The megafreighters are owned by megacorporations, the megacorporations use their megafreighters to ship their megacorporation products to market.
Sometimes megacorporation freighters transport raw materials exploited by megacorporation facilities to megacorporation refineries to manufacture the materials needed by the megacorporation production facilities to make the megacorporation products, which may require megafreighters to take the processed materials to the megacorporation production facility.
Then the megafreighter can take the megacorporation products to market.
The 200t free trader picks up the flotsam that remains, as freight or speculative goods.
The megacorporations already have their best price guaranteed, which is why they can buy megafreighters without a mortgage and thus just pay transportation costs, which the PC scale must match.
Sometimes megacorporation freighters transport raw materials exploited by megacorporation facilities to megacorporation refineries to manufacture the materials needed by the megacorporation production facilities to make the megacorporation products, which may require megafreighters to take the processed materials to the megacorporation production facility.
Then the megafreighter can take the megacorporation products to market.
The 200t free trader picks up the flotsam that remains, as freight or speculative goods.
The megacorporations already have their best price guaranteed, which is why they can buy megafreighters without a mortgage and thus just pay transportation costs, which the PC scale must match.
Well, and there are the mid-range companies squeeking out a margin using freighters that fall somewhere between the free trader and megafreighter. It's an ecology of sorts; occasionally the bigger fish eat a smaller fish.
These megacorps may span one or more sectors, and communication is restricted to the speed of jump. On that scale, I imagine the correct answer to your question is, "Yes."
