Starship Geek Poll: There's No Such Thing as a Safari Ship?
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I voted 1 (nothing, except for stating its intended use) for the reasons I already gave in this post
While amny stated features are useful for a Safari Ship, I don't believe it to deserve a class on their own, mano other small ships being able to be used for the poupose o taking people to a hunting expedition.
As I already stated, IMHO a ship class should have a space mission, not a planetary one, and a safari is by definition a planetary expedition, not a space one.
While amny stated features are useful for a Safari Ship, I don't believe it to deserve a class on their own, mano other small ships being able to be used for the poupose o taking people to a hunting expedition.
As I already stated, IMHO a ship class should have a space mission, not a planetary one, and a safari is by definition a planetary expedition, not a space one.
One of my choices was:
The Expeditionary Vessel would need to have enough cargo-space for long-duration supplies and some provision for bringing back "samples/items" from the destination. The Safari Ship would probably customize those sections of the ship for its specific intended use by the "dilettante-owner", and might individually customize staterooms and common areas as the owner saw fit.
- It has significant environmental capture tanks.
The Expeditionary Vessel would need to have enough cargo-space for long-duration supplies and some provision for bringing back "samples/items" from the destination. The Safari Ship would probably customize those sections of the ship for its specific intended use by the "dilettante-owner", and might individually customize staterooms and common areas as the owner saw fit.
Spinward Flow
SOC-14 1K
A "safari ship" is, in my mind, a Trophy Hunter ... however the trophy to be obtained isn't explicitly the ship itself, but rather what the ship can acquire by going to different places. The "trophies" to be had can be anything from wild game kills to archeological artifacts (Ancient or otherwise), or even as @whulorigan points out photographic or artistic. You could even have a "trophy hunt" of hot springs baths in the wilderness if you wanted or other kinds of "sightseeing tour" types of operational uses.
In that sense, there is remarkably little difference between an Expeditionary Vessel built for long duration frontier operations away from support facilities and a Safari Ship in a lot of cases. If anything, I would also argue that a safari ship is functionally a use case subset of other ships. I can easily envision what might otherwise be considered Lab Ships being repurposed for going on safari for animal/vegetable/mineral/plasma trophies (just repurpose the lab and passenger spaces to suit the needs of safari venture) of scientific and/or personal value.
The legacy Safari Ship from LBB S4 is merely one type used by Big Game Hunters, but should not be representative of the entire range of possibilities. If anything, the LBB S4 Safari Ship has a number of points in common with the Type-Y Yacht with only a few partitions moved around and a modest redistribution of internal spaces and facilities, so it's more like a "specialized yacht" example than an entirely new ship class.
So my answer is ... Other ... because safari ships are really just Trophy Hunters (pick your trophy type).
In that sense, there is remarkably little difference between an Expeditionary Vessel built for long duration frontier operations away from support facilities and a Safari Ship in a lot of cases. If anything, I would also argue that a safari ship is functionally a use case subset of other ships. I can easily envision what might otherwise be considered Lab Ships being repurposed for going on safari for animal/vegetable/mineral/plasma trophies (just repurpose the lab and passenger spaces to suit the needs of safari venture) of scientific and/or personal value.
The legacy Safari Ship from LBB S4 is merely one type used by Big Game Hunters, but should not be representative of the entire range of possibilities. If anything, the LBB S4 Safari Ship has a number of points in common with the Type-Y Yacht with only a few partitions moved around and a modest redistribution of internal spaces and facilities, so it's more like a "specialized yacht" example than an entirely new ship class.
So my answer is ... Other ... because safari ships are really just Trophy Hunters (pick your trophy type).
Other:
Needs wilderness surface-operation equipment (vehicles, etc.)
Needs wilderness surface-operation equipment (vehicles, etc.)
And jump 2 instead of 1 (quite important a change)....
AnotherDilbert
SOC-14 1K
The Yacht is a variant on the Free Trader chassis,
The Safari Ship is a variant on the Far Trader chassis.
The difference is basically a mild refit where the cargo bay is repurposed.
We could just as well build a version on a Fat Trader chassis if we want more space.
The Safari Ship is a variant on the Far Trader chassis.
The difference is basically a mild refit where the cargo bay is repurposed.
We could just as well build a version on a Fat Trader chassis if we want more space.
Condottiere
SOC-14 5K
Is it?
The smart thing to do is get the Beowulf chassis, and modularize it to the maximum.
Then offer options.
The smart thing to do is get the Beowulf chassis, and modularize it to the maximum.
Then offer options.
At design (numbers) level, I guess you're right. At art level, they have always been pictured quite different (so, not the same chasis, even if equivalent in numbers)...
Which makes the whole "standard hull" mechanic in LBB2 somewhat difficult to justify, but there it is.
AnotherDilbert
SOC-14 1K
They can be, sure, but they don't have to be.
Remember that the Suleiman-class and the Serpent-class are both Type S Scouts, just packaged a bit differently, i.e. same design, but different artwork and deck plans.
The Lord Baltimore-class Yacht (or whatever it's called) is one implementation of the Type Y specification, but not the only one.
AnotherDilbert
SOC-14 1K
Standard hull does not mean the same shape, just a standardised volume and engineering compartment size. Not even streamlining is specified in the standardisation.
Nothing says that, say, Ling and General Shipyards use the same hull shape, or that the same hull shape is dominant in the Spinward Marches vs. Solomani Rim.
AnotherDilbert
SOC-14 1K
The easy way for lazy people (e.g. I) is to start with well-known design such as a Beowulf or Empress Marava and make some changes to the deck plan.
If you want a Beowulf-class Free Trader with a few staterooms more or less, the shipyard should be accommodate you at minimal extra cost. The difference between a type A and a Type Y is this category...
If you want a Free Trader built on the Lord Baltimore hull, why not?
I chose Other, as I found the other choices somewhat limiting.
Looking at the Safari Ship in particular, it's for hunting or viewing creatures on different worlds, with the ability to bring some of those creatures back with the ship, either dead or alive. on that note, most of the choices would apply.
the Safari Ship, and others of it's type, are owned by people who make a living by chartering their ship, versus those making a living charging people a fare to go from planet to planet and those who get paid to move cargo around or who speculate buying low & selling high, or some combination of the three.
it's not just the idle rich that would make use of a Safari Ship. on hi pop worlds, there would be enough people to keep many Charter ships busy for whatever they are specializing in for their charter services. or the charter has a huge reputation, and the customers come to their planet, and are then taken to the planet they want to go.
Looking at the Safari Ship in particular, it's for hunting or viewing creatures on different worlds, with the ability to bring some of those creatures back with the ship, either dead or alive. on that note, most of the choices would apply.
the Safari Ship, and others of it's type, are owned by people who make a living by chartering their ship, versus those making a living charging people a fare to go from planet to planet and those who get paid to move cargo around or who speculate buying low & selling high, or some combination of the three.
it's not just the idle rich that would make use of a Safari Ship. on hi pop worlds, there would be enough people to keep many Charter ships busy for whatever they are specializing in for their charter services. or the charter has a huge reputation, and the customers come to their planet, and are then taken to the planet they want to go.
So basically a yacht configured for wilderness landings?
AnotherDilbert
SOC-14 1K
The "official" designs are just a random bunch of ships. There is no implication that these are the only ships, or the most common ships. There are presumably lots of other designs...
A Yacht can be 200 Dton, 350 Dt, or any other size. The Lord Baltimore-class is just an example.
Or in the official word of GDW:
AnotherDilbert
SOC-14 1K
This is how I see the standard designs, even starships:
Except I would not ignore the cost of extra fittings.
You want a stateroom (or ten) more of less? No problem!
You want to exchange two staterooms for a "trophy lounge"? No problem!
You want a Free Trader with gold plated luxury staterooms? No problem (for a slight extra fee, of course)!
In general I'm not at all attached to a specific number of staterooms on ships. It can be varied at the shipyard, or be changed over the decades a ship serves. The Seeker is a canonical example, specifically a Scout with fewer staterooms and more cargo space.
I agree CT ships are not generally modular; You order a specific set of fittings from the shipyard, to change that is a refit at a shipyard. Probably not a very difficult refit, but still a refit.
It's obviously possible to make modular ships, but we have no general rules for how to do it.
Payload can be modular:
The cost is up to the Referee...
Then why is it the "standard" and therefore cheaper to build (in-universe)?
If there can be multiple "standard hulls" for a given tonnage, why do all of those "standard" hulls have the same drive bay size -- and often, different drive bay shapes despite having "standard" drives?
Yes, I know it's a game mechanic to "stealth-subsidize" limited-performance ships.
Unless MegaTraveller honored it, I'd say that the six standard hulls went the way of the Dodo with T2.
The six standard hulls are common tonnages, thus materials and processes can be optimized (waves hands) leaving less waste. There's no rule saying they are any particular shape, and in fact they are actually at least twelve hulls since they can be streamlined or unstreamlined.
And in Book 2, streamlining was more significant than it is in later rules, since "unstreamlined" spanned "planetoid" to "Lab Ship" to "Subsidized Liner", and "streamlined" included lift body hulls. So as a T5 nerd I could look back at Book 2 and claim that there were actually more like 42 standard hulls.
...Looking at the table, I'd also think that they are commercial hulls, because it looks like maybe they can only fit low-rated drives.
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