Spy ships

[The Oz]

I'm wondering about the different general types of surveillance/reconnaisance/spy ships that would exist in the TRAVELLER universe. I can think of three general types. All these ships would need the best possible sensors and computers, of course.

1: A ship intended to covertly enter an enemy star system and keep it under surveillance for a long time, most likely from the outer system. It might use unmanned drones and stealth boats to get better data on the inner system. Couriers would periodically come and go to pick up the data. Such a ship doesn't have to pull a lot of G's or jump very far (IMTU, we say that it doesn't have to have "fast" or "long" legs, respectively), but it must be designed to spend a lot of time on station: have comfortable living quarters, lots of cargo space for life support supplies, drones, etc. It must have the best stealth/EM Masking capability available, as would be needed for any drones or ship's boats. This ship would need minimal armament and defenses (if it's spotted, it's already failed in its mission).

2. A ship intended to enter enemy star systems pretending to be a harmless ship, with the intention of getting the best possible sensor data on the inner system. This would be a modification of a standard ship design (I'd recommend the Type M subsidized liner) having a hidden sensor and computer suite. This is probably the kind of ship most people would call a "spy" ship, as it is pretending to be something other than what it is. This ship needs an airtight cover identity as that is its only real defense.

3. A ship intended to be the "eyes and ears of the fleet," a tactical reconnaisance ship that jumps ahead of the fleet and spys out the next star system on the target list. This ship has be able to keep up with the fleet, and it needs to be fast, with good defenses. It would be tasked with running into the inner system at high speed, gathering all the data it can and then jumping away to tell the fleet. It would be nice if it could jump twice without refueling. It wouldn't need more than the usual mission endurance (28 days powerplant fuel and life support) since it works with the fleet and wouldn't be operating alone for very long.

Anyone have any other ideas?

 

[Zutroi]

I'd suggest solar power and the classic 'Lab Ship' ring shaped hull to allow long duration ops without requiring the output of a fusion plant (nasty little neutrino sensors will find you) to run rour artificial gravity...

 

[mike wightman]

Just a couple of observations if I may Oz.

1.long duration, deep space surveillance ship; keep a courier ship on stand by to jump at a moments notice, you never know when that vital bit of intel may come in. You might also consider keeping it in an internal hanger. Love the idea for stealth boats, could they be used for saboutage/SF insertion?

2.spy ship; just about any common merchant ship could be used, the more common the better. I'd be tempted by the type M liner because of it's higher jump number, larger computer and the ease with which covert devices could be hidden between stateroom walls.

3.fleet recon; most important thing here is definately the ability to make two consecutive jumps.

 

[Jame]

My two comments:

#2: Plus a Subbed Liner may be frequented by "the enemy," which'd give it a leg up...

#3: What exactly is Fleet Recon?

Edit: There's an interesting scout ship design on the Freelance Traveller site. It goes well for #1.

 

[mike wightman]

Fleet recon is just the shortened version of the Oz's third ship type, a tactical reconnaissance vessel for a warship fleet or squadron. I used the term because it's quicker to type.

 

[The Oz]

Sigg:

"Fleet recon" is a much nicer and more concise term than I was using. Thanks.

I also agree that the ability to jump twice without refuelling is a very good thing for the fleet recon ship, but if you're building it to Imperial Navy standards, you have to have drop tanks, since there's no way to build a ship with Jump-4 twice (and 6-G acceleration) without drop tanks. Even at 1-G accel you need a 5,000-dton ship to get Jump-4 twice.

The long-duration surveillance ship might have a courier permanently assigned when things were getting hot. OTOH, if things get really hot, it can always jump out and deliver the mail itself.

The "stealth boat" I mentioned could indeed be used for covert insertions/extractions. This is very much like the "spy ship" that was talked about earlier.

I see we both agree on the Type M subsidized liner as the best "spy" ship. It's common, it's big enough to hide better sensors, and it already has nice long legs.

Zutroi:

Yes, solar power would be nice, but if the ship stays in the outer system the solar array would have to be huge to collect enough sunlight. Still, it's probably the best way to reduce your neutrino signature. A fission plant would allow really long endurance, but I think they also emit neutrinos (can't remember for sure, we weren't interested in neutrino emissions at NPS).

Reducing the need for generated gravity could also help, but I've never liked the Lab Ship design. Still, something like that might be part of the design. Perhaps a "capsule" system with the habitable parts on long booms.

 

[Ran Targas]

Oh Great and Wonderful Oz,

Have you thought of an asteroid ship in a long term recon role?

Once it is in system, just insert it in solar orbit and hide in plain sight or maybe take orbit of a nearby ringed gas giant. This would be an ideal position to take if your building an order of battle or gathering elint/comint.

If it's jump in/out is done during peak solar activity or when masked by a gas giant, counter detection should not be an issue.

With it's power plant shielded by a couple of meters of nickel/iron, it should be pretty indistiguishable from primordial rubble. Or pack it in methane ice and sail it through the system as a comet.

If anyone comes a courtin', just retract any antennae, button up tight, and go cold, dark, and quiet. The only real threat is accidental discovery and exposure by astronomers or asteroid miners.

The real trick is communication. Against a sophisticated, capable target, any movement to/from your platform will blow its cover. This is where your fleet recon comes in; jump in, take a quick scan (for appearances), pick up a waiting data pod ejected sometime before, and then jump out. If the appearance of fleet recon is an established, regular occurence before the recon platform is deployed, then the target won't be any more suspicious when the operation actually goes into full gear.

 

[Shadowdancer]

There was a CT adventure that utilized an asteroid ship for surveillance purposes -- "Mission to Zhodane" I belive was the name.

There is a scout ship I found on the Internet that makes for a good fleet recon vessel. It has three turrets, J-5, and 2- or 3-G. I'll have to find the printout at home to get you the website. I use it in our current campaign to transport a Scout Service special ops team around. The J-5 makes it very handy.

 

[mike wightman]

How about unmanned surveillance/listening posts, built into asteroids, comets etc carefully launched from far, far away a bit like Ran Targas' suggestion.
Your fleet recon ship or spy ship knows all the vectors and so can use tight beam laser and maser comms to download data with little chance of detection.
Also Belters could provide a good cover for intelligence gathering operations.

 

[The Oz]

Asteroid ships would make great long-duration surveillance ships, if the system you're spying on has asteroids (and most do).

Communications between such a ship and the couriers coming to collect the data might be tricky, if you wanted to keep the enemy ignorant of being spied on. Using belters as couriers is a good idea, or you could have one of those disguised subsidized liner spy ships pass through the system and use meson communicators to pass the data along. Meson comms are supposed to be undetectable and uninterceptable and would be perfect for this kind of signalling.

In wartime it would matter less and Ran Targas' idea of the fast pass by the fleet recon ship would work well, and not be unusual at all.

 

[eiladayn]

Communications via lasers to a pre-arranged location are practically fool-proof unless some patrol ship happens to wander between the two transmission points.

Pappy

 

[Ran Targas]

Reducing any out going transmissions is essential for maintaining the secrecy of the listening post. Even a greater thermal signature than expected could pique the interest of the target. IMHO, data storage units set adrift for collection by a second party would be better than any energy emission.

Any small craft should be able to pass reasonably undetected through a system with minimal stealth features and disciplined emissions control. I would think the average Scout could elude detection for an extended period of time by mapping sensor grids and patrol patterns from long range then moving close when the gaps are exposed. Wouldn't this be part of first contact protocol and training?

One thing to always keep in mind is that not just the military would be interested in an unknown object passing through the system. For example: if the trajectory of the platform appears to carry it through civilian transit lanes, the patrol will be called out to remove the navigation hazard. If the craft reflects to much light, professional or amateur astronomers may pick it of the background clutter before the military does.

All in all, it would make for an excellent adventure.

 

[eiladayn]

Yep, I forget what and who (I might be developing CRS [Can't Remember Stuff]), but I just read a sci-fi story (book?) where we discovered aliens in our own system hiding in the asteroid belt when we accidently intercepted a lasered message between their ships.

Pappy