Ship Design Evolution in Traveller5

[robject]

There's been some discussion on life support rules comparisons in Traveller, and I thought I'd dredge the old T5 drafts to see how ship design rules evolved as the rules matured. And of course I'll start with Life Support.

STANDARD VERSUS LUXURY STATEROOMS
CT staterooms were 4 tons, and can support middle and high passengers. T5 bifurcates these into 2-ton "standard" staterooms for middle passage, and 6-ton "luxury" staterooms for high passage. That split is a clear break from classic Traveller, where the stateroom is actually a High Passage accommodation by default, and only goes to middle passengers as a way to fill up unused rooms.

Side note: the assumed "common space" in classic Traveller is explicit in T5. So those 2 ton staterooms are actually 2 full tons.


LIFE SUPPORT

2007
This is the earliest T5 ship design rules I have. Life support is undeveloped at this point:

Life Support is a Process and consists of the many different programs and applications which control Life Support.

Life Support is essentially "1 Process per crew".

2008
Life Support is part of a ship's Endurance rating:

Basic Endurance for a craft allows the craft to operate for up to 24 hours.

Enhanced Endurance for a craft allows the craft to operate for up to seven days. It requires one square [one half-ton] of Life Support per
four crew positions.

Long Term Endurance for a craft allows operation for up to four weeks. It requires one square [one half-ton] of Life Support for each
Crew Position and one bunk per two crew positions.

But the document also has a separate section specifically for life support. It is clearly related to the previous blurb but LS has clearly not been resolved.

LIFE SUPPORT

Life support includes basic environment for the crew and passengers of the craft. A hull automatically has basic life support for each of its crew positions.

Basic Life Support. BLS includes a pressurized environment, heating and cooling, and other elements sufficient for one day of operations.

Extended Life Support. ELS extends BLS to allow up one week of operations. It includes water, a stock of ready-to-eat meals, and a fresher.

Long-Term Life Support. LTLS extends ELS to allow unlimited operations limited only by food stocks (typically a 60 days supply). It includes water and a recycler, a pantry of foodstuffs and preparation equipment, bunks for half of the crew positions, and a fresher.

2010
This draft ("T5=5801") says this:

Assign tonnage for life support for the crew and passengers. Life support includes atmosphere recycling, waste processing, and environmental conditions.
Life Support is a job responsibility assigned to a Steward.
Short Term Life Support (up to 4 days). No additional tonnage or crew required.
Standard Life Support (up to 4 weeks). One ton per ten crew and passengers. One Control Panel per ten tons of Life Support.
Long Term Life Support (up to 4 months). Two tons per ten crew and passengers. One Control Panel per ten tons of Life Support.
High Passenger (Luxury) Life Support. One ton per eight High Passengers. HPLS includes a separate Control Panel

2011 and T5.01
This is from a draft of the Big Black Book for ship design ("T5-BBB-00n") -- in fact it is the same as T5.01, the original Big Black Book:

Life Support. A ship must have equipment to maintain environment, atmosphere, liquids, and food.

Short Term (4 days) - 10 people, free.
Standard (30 days) - 10 people, 1 ton, MCr 1.
Long-Term (120 days) - 10 people, 2 tons, MCr 2.
Luxury: 10 people, 1 ton, MCr 1.
Adaptable: 10 people, 1 ton, MCr 1.

Adaptable require for non-human environments. Luxury required for High Passage staterooms.

T5.01 also has the current text on "Quiet Mode" as a method for extending life support.

It also has this interesting note that may or may not be in the current rules:

(p266) Contaminated Life Support. There is a continuing contamination in the Life Support system. Check Endurance to avoid Infection-1.

More importantly, BBB sharply differentiates High Passage staterooms from Middle Passage staterooms:

1. High and Middle Passengers. Allocate total tonnage for High Passage (Luxury) and Middle Passage (Standard) accommodations.

2018 / T5.10
T5.10 has the same text as T5.01. It removed the text requiring high passage to have luxury staterooms in one place, but keeps it on page 89, and the Beowulf design reasonably supports the idea that High Passengers require a Luxury Stateroom.

 

[AnotherDilbert]

T5.10 seems to retain the requirement for separate staterooms for high passengers:

B2, p89:
ACCOMMODATIONS AND LIFE SUPPORT
Assign tonnage for accommodations for passengers and crew. Raw tonnage may be dif- ferentiated into staterooms and other locations.
1. High and Middle Passengers. Allocate total tonnage for High Passage (Luxury) and Middle Passage (Standard) accommodations.

Requiring Lux life support:

B2, p87, Table C:
Adaptable required for non-human environments. Luxury required for High Passage staterooms

 

[robject]

T5.10 seems to retain the requirement for separate staterooms for high passengers:

Unconditionally, I would say. You're right.