Stats of Large Ships

[Whipsnade]

Bill, you've forgotten your quantum theory. The act of stumbling across it collapses the probability wave from an indefinite 'sod all' activity to a definite mission based on the overall strategy and defined by the referee in whatever detail is necessary.

Icosahedron,

That's a very good analogy actually and for a great many things other than the IN too.

Nothing really exists from the players' frame of reference until they observe or otherwise interact with it. However, as you also point out...

But you do still need a vague overall IN strategy.

While something may not yet exist as far as the players are concerned, the GM must be ready for the moment when the players collapse the wavefront. There are somethings you cannot make up in the fly.


Regards,
Bill

 

[flykiller]

Not quite a 'random wandering monster', but a monster whose motives and movements are beyond the interpretation of the average adventurer.

players don't encounter "the imperial navy", they encounter components of it, and those components have definite motivations and purposes. knowing what those motivations and purposes are helps me run them.

The in-game difference between that and a fully worked out navy is academic, but it saves a helluva lot of thankless work.

it was indeed a lot of work, both enjoyable and useful. and not just academic. I believe it saved me more game prep time than I spent working it out.

... I didn't produce USPs or anything but the broadest of "stats" for the majority of the vessels in that summary.

I thought about that, but I found I couldn't play the navy properly unless I knew what its intentions, limitations, strategy, and tactics were, based on the combat system I intended to use. and I couldn't know those until I designed the fleet.

There are somethings you cannot make up in the fly.

the fly agrees.

 

[rancke]

While something may not yet exist as far as the players are concerned, the GM must be ready for the moment when the players collapse the wavefront. There are somethings you cannot make up in the fly.

You may not know whether Shroedinger's cat is alive or not, but you do know that it's a cat and not a purple-dyed kodiak bear with a poodle trim.


Hans

 

[veltyen]

You may not know whether Shroedinger's cat is alive or not, but you do know that it's a cat and not a purple-dyed kodiak bear with a poodle trim.


Hans

While that would require multiple edge results on your coin flip, it isn't completely out of the question.

Though restating the question as ...

"Until you open the box, you cannot know if the cat is alive, the cat is dead, or the cat has spontaneously transformed into a purple dyed minature Kodiak Bear with a poodle trim, and thus until observed the cat is in a superposition of being in all these states simultaneously"

... needlessly complicates things.

 

[Whipsnade]

While that would require multiple edge results on your coin flip, it isn't completely out of the question.

Veltyen,

Maybe Shroedinger uses a d20?


Regards,
Bill

 

[aramis]

One thing to remember about big ship designs: Efficiency of collecting common space.

Once you get to about 30-40 SR, you can pack the rooms in 2.5 Td in long banks.

+-----+  +-----+-----+  +-----+-----+  +-----+
|     |        |     |        |     |        |
|        |     |        |     |        |     |
+-----+  +-----+-----+  +-----+-----+  +-----+
|     |        |     |        |     |        |
|        |     |        |     |        |     |
+-----+  +-----+-----+  +-----+-----+  +-----+
|     |        |     |        |     |        |
|        |     |        |     |        |     |
+-----+  +-----+-----+  +-----+-----+  +-----+
|     |        |     |        |     |        |
|        |     |        |     |        |     |
+-----+  +-----+-----+  +-----+-----+  +-----+
|     |        |     |        |     |        |
|        |     |        |     |        |     |
+-----+  +-----+-----+  +-----+-----+  +-----+

This leaves 1.5 tons per stateroom for commons.
If one shorts them to 2.25mx3m (7'3" x9'6"), like some small cabins I've seen, that's instead 1.75 tons per stateroom for commons.

   Shaved        Shaved         Normal
+----+  +----+----+  +----+-----+  +----+
|    |       |    |       |     |        |
|       |    |       |    |        |     |
+----+  +----+----+  +----+-----+  +-----+
|    |       |    |       |     |        |
|       |    |       |    |        |     |
+----+  +----+----+  +----+-----+  +-----+
|    |       |    |       |     |        |
|       |    |       |    |        |     |
+----+  +----+----+  +----+-----+  +-----+
|    |       |    |       |     |        |
|       |    |       |    |        |     |
+----+  +----+----+  +----+-----+  +-----+
|    |       |    |       |     |        |
|       |    |       |    |        |     |
+----+  +----+----+  +----+-----+  +-----+

 

[veltyen]

Veltyen,

Maybe Shroedinger uses a d20?


Regards,
Bill

Its a LOT of 1's in a row then.

For a very high value of LOT.

 

[Icosahedron]

Once your ships are big enough that crewmembers are not falling over each other in a cramped common room, the 'cabins' could be reduced to the dimensions of a Japanese-style 'coffin berth' - not on passenger liners, of course, although I could see Steerage class going that way...

 

[veltyen]

Once your ships are big enough that crewmembers are not falling over each other in a cramped common room, the 'cabins' could be reduced to the dimensions of a Japanese-style 'coffin berth' - not on passenger liners, of course, although I could see Steerage class going that way...

Go the whole hog and have them dual use low berth/compact berth.

You could interleave them on an operational vessel, leaving the shared facilities evenly in operation regardless of how much of the crew was awake.

 

[abomination]

Once your ships are big enough that crewmembers are not falling over each other in a cramped common room, the 'cabins' could be reduced to the dimensions of a Japanese-style 'coffin berth' - not on passenger liners, of course, although I could see Steerage class going that way...

I already assume coffin bunks for crew. Only officers get staterooms. I don't see any reason why they couldn't be used for 3rd class passengers.

Even the luxurious Queen Mary had bunk beds in 3rd (Tourist) class.

And horrid bed linen apparently.

 

[mbrinkhues]

You may not know whether Shroedinger's cat is alive or not, but you do know that it's a cat and not a purple-dyed kodiak bear with a poodle trim.


Hans

According to the Colonel O'Neil Axiom you can tell if the cat is dead. "The poor beast has suffocated due to lack of Oxygen."

=======================

There are three large ships in GT:Far Trader

+ A 10.000dton J3/M1 passenger craft
+ A 10.000dton/22.000 dton (empty/loaded) LASH carrier with J3/M1 (loaded jump) and 15x800dton Tender assuming the tender is below 4000tons in weight
+ A 20.000dton bulk freighter, J2/M1

And the classic 3000dton and 5000dton freighters from IIRC Tukera and Akkerut

 

[Brian Smaller]

The largest warship I ever actually used was a 3000ton Zho missile cruiser up against the PC's 1500dt General Class Escort Cruiser (one of my own designs).

 

[Hyphen]

I ... statted out each and every ship class in the fleet according to its tactical and strategic function ... also delineated the chain of command... (etc)

Cool!

Along with inexorabletash's message about his Trav map site, it again has me wondering whether Marc or Loren, et al, ever realised that the tech would become available - in their lifetimes - to actually CHART all this!!

Where is this goodness located?

 

[flykiller]

... it again has me wondering whether Marc or Loren, et al, ever realised that the tech would become available - in their lifetimes - to actually CHART all this!!
tech isn't necessary. look at the united states' logistical effort in wwii, it was all planned. badly sometimes, but they did what they needed to do.

Where is this goodness located?

never posted any of it, everyone has their own assumptions and ideas thus it's hard to run someone else's game. 'fyer interested I'll pm it.

 

[Icosahedron]

I'm interested.

 

[robject]

Drawing a rough analogy here, to me the IN in Traveller is akin to dragons in early D&D. Yes, it exists and, yes, the players will have interactions with it. Just as the existence and activities of dragons in dungeons must be, the IN's existence and activities need to be more logical, more plausible, and more planned than some random encounter table. Just as a dragon shouldn't be passively waiting next door to that crypt full of bugbears, an IN squadron shouldn't be hanging off some gas giant doing sod all until the players stumble across it.

To a certain degree, Big Ships start to look sort-of like Events rather than ships, except that they have combat capability which can be put to the test. Not unlike dragons, perhaps.

 

[Hyphen]

never posted any of it, everyone has their own assumptions and ideas thus it's hard to run someone else's game. 'fyer interested I'll pm it.

That would be great, although I reckon that posting it for everyone would be pretty cool too.

Just hang an IMTU sign on it, if you're worried about stomping on anyone's toes...

 

[flykiller]

'k, I'll pm it this friday to you and Icosahedron. have to do it in sections.

 

[Ran Targas]

Fly, Please send me a copy. I'm very interested in seeing more of your work. Thanks!

 

[flykiller]

Ico, I'm trying to pm my boats to you but your mailbox is full.