CT Only: The Littlest Starship

[Grav_Moped]

EDIT: Revised based on input from Another Dilbert

It started as a Jump Torpedo. Yes, we don't do those anymore. So what?

The minimal Jump Torpedo built using LBB5'80 rules is 8Td, can do Jump-1/4G (Agility 0), and costs MCr24.8.
The hull is partially streamlined (cylinder, for compact stowage).
It is sufficiently autonomous to be able to refuel at gas giants in order to reach a pre-programmed destination more than 1 parsec away.

Breakdown follows:

Spoiler

1Td MCr4   J6 Jump Drive (limited to J1 by computer size, J6 by rules)
1Td MCr3   Pn 10 (1 EP) Power Plant (TL-15)
1Td MCr0.5   4G Maneuver Drive (Agility 0)
2Td        Fuel
3Td MCr18  Computer Model/3 (effectively Model/1)
    MCr0.8 Hull (cylinder, includes fuel scoops for gas giant skimming)
-------------Totals-----------------------------------------------
8Td MCr26.3

It requires waiving the following rules:
- Minimum size to Jump is 100Td
- Starships require a 2%/20Td bridge
- Starships require a crew

It does obey the "minimum drive size is 1Td" rule.
It complies with the "minimum power plant fuel is 1Td" requirement.

The workaround for the bridge requirement is an extension of the rule that a small craft can replace its bridge with a computer, which is then reduced by one factor. In this case, a starship can replace its bridge with a computer but the computer is reduced by two factors due to the additional complexity of the task. Because a starship requires a computer factor equal to its jump number, a Model/3 will support only Jump-1. The power plant will not support any larger computer because it only puts out 1EP.

The workaround for the crew requirement is pretty much referee fiat (it's a jump torpedo, of course it doesn't need a pilot!), but you could work out what a Pilot-bot would cost and roll that into the price.

So, that's the minimum viable product version.

I'm not done yet, though!

 

[Grav_Moped]

EDIT: Revised based on input from Another Dilbert

Take Two:

Note that the Jump factor is computer-limited to J1 while the drive itself could have done J6. I'm arbitrarily limiting the drives' capability to 10Td max to keep from really breaking the game universe.

Those two extra tons can be used for fuel, allowing an additional J1 per ton, for up to 3 consecutive J1s without refueling.

They could also be used for emergency low berths, turning the Jump Torpedo into a mini lifeboat for 8 personnel.

But if you're carrying corpsicles, you'll probably want to be able to land them at the nearest habitable planet in case you can't get them all the way home. Which means an atmosphere, which means you want this thing to be streamlined. Put those extra two tons into a pointy bit on the front end of the cylinder and now it's a needle configuration -- done and done.

Ok, now we've done that, how about using those two tons for half a starship stateroom (double occupancy by one person) instead of a frozen meat locker?
Instead of a bunk, there's an acceleration couch with the manual controls.

And there you have The Littlest Starship.

10Td, J1/3G, Crew=1. It costs MCr26.62.

It'd make a nice mustering out benefit for a Scout in a solo campaign, if you can tolerate breaking the necessary rules to allow it.

 

[AnotherDilbert]

Look over the price, I believe you have discounted a bit too deep...

I would not accept combining fuel. A minimum small craft must have a 1 Dt PP and 1 Dt PP fuel; it does not make sense, but it is what it is. I would require additional jump fuel.

By small craft rules the crew needs couches regardless of whether staterooms are present. Minimum crew is 1. OK, not needed in an automated jump torpedo.

If we accept jump drives we can presumably also accept bis computers in small craft. You can then save a Dton and the annoying EP requirement with a m/2bis computer. Even reduced for lack of bridge it would be a m/0bis, presumably able to control jump-1.

Since you don't need a full EP for the smaller computer you can use a lower TL PP. The J-1 torpedo can then be built at TL-9.

I get something like:

QM-02144R0-000000-00000-0       MCr 21,0           7 Dton
bearing                                            Crew=0
batteries                                            TL=9
                       Cargo=0 Fuel=1,7 EP=0,33 Agility=4

Single Occupancy                                    0,3      26,3
                                     USP    #     Dton       Cost
Hull, Streamlined   Custom             0            7            
Configuration       Cone               2                      0,8
                                                                 
Jump Drive                             1    1       1         4  
Manoeuvre D                            4    1       1         0,5
Power Plant                            4    1       1         3  
Fuel, #J, #weeks    J-1, 4 weeks            1       1,7          
                                                                 
Bridge                                                           
Computer            m/2bis             R    1       2        18  
                                                                 
Cargo                                               0,3          
                                                                 
Nominal Cost        MCr 26,27            Sum:       0,3      26,3
Class Cost          MCr  5,52           Valid      ≥0          ≥0
Ship Cost           MCr 21,02

 

[Grav_Moped]

That's about where I'd have gone with it. And yeah, I left out the computer cost. (duh.)

I agree on the fuel. It needs 1Td for the power plant, and 1Td for the Jump Drive. The Jump Torpedo (I'd call it a drone, but the name's already there) is 8Td and uses 2Td of fuel. The Littlest Starship is then 10Td.

That said, I'm not quite sure that a Model/2bis would work in this application. The rules describing bis computers (from LBB2:'77) state that they have twice the CPU slots of the base model ('81 just has a table, not the formula). If the base model is Model/0 (no computer)... this could be a problem. But given how many other things that are handwaved here, it's not that much of a reach. The idea of keeping it TL15 appeals to me though -- it's the cutting edge of Ultra Advanced Imperial Super High Technology, and it only does Jump-1.

Incorporating the pilot's couch in stateroom tonnage is an interpretation of the small craft passenger accommodations requirement (LBB2:'81 p.17). "Couches are individual passenger seats; one is required for each passenger carried (if a stateroom or cabin is not provided)." I agree it should be paid for separately though (that is, add Cr25,000 to the cost of the half-stateroom, but not the 0.5Td) to account for the control panels and whatnot.

 

[Grav_Moped]

The other thing is that this drive and control package could do Jump-2/1G in a 25Td hull, if the small craft had a small craft bridge (to eliminate the "small craft without a bridge" computer penalty, but not the "starship without a 20Td/2% bridge" one).

I don't really want to go there. The TL15 requirement is part of how I rationalize it away. The rationalizaton here is that jump torpedoes are only possible at TL15, and you can only make them Jump-1, and only at 7*-10Td so they're mostly useless as ships. It's a technological dead-end, basically.

With a 10Td upper limit, you could make a stripped torpedo with a 4 parsec range as 2J2.
Changes: Model/3bis computer (MCr36, so add MCr18 to the cost), no maneuver drive (save MCr0.5), add 3Td fuel.

Simply upgrading to a Model/3bis from a Model/3 would also allow J2 with droptanks (plus J1 without) while retaining 2Td payload (icebox or half-stateroom).
But it would be hideously expensive!


*2Td fuel, Model/2bis, no maneuver drive.

 

[Grav_Moped]

Another possible trick is to use the launching ship as a drop tank to get an additional jump worth of range. This requires either a working maneuver drive on the launching ship -- not something you can count on if you're using it as a lifeboat or distress signal -- or the torpedo. You could use carried drop tanks too, I suppose, but that adds additional storage space requirements to the carrying vessel. And I don't want to go bigger than 10Td total for the reasons I noted above.

 

[AnotherDilbert]

That said, I'm not quite sure that a Model/2bis would work in this application.

We're using LBB5 drives, so LBB5 rules:

The bis models (1bis and 2bis) allow are capable of controlling a jump one higher than their model numbers; 1bis is capable of controlling jump-2.

I don't really want to go there. The TL15 requirement is part of how I rationalize it away.

Fair enough, it's all house rules...

 

[Grav_Moped]

Edits made to upthread posts.

 

[BRover]

. . .
Incorporating the pilot's couch in stateroom tonnage is an interpretation of the small craft passenger accommodations requirement (LBB2:'81 p.17). "Couches are individual passenger seats; one is required for each passenger carried (if a stateroom or cabin is not provided)." I agree it should be paid for separately though (that is, add Cr25,000 to the cost of the half-stateroom, but not the 0.5Td) to account for the control panels and whatnot.

I'm glad someone quoted this--saves me the trouble. I just discovered it about a week back.

 

[Grav_Moped]

And of course some super genius in Naval Ship Development decided to weaponize it.

- delete the half-stateroom.
- Downgrade computer to Model/2bis
- Install an acceleration couch
- Install a triple "turret" with missile launchers
- Add 1Td fuel
- Add Armor-4 (TL-15)


Concept of operations:
- Fighters deploy by jumping using 1Td drop tanks or fuel from parent vessel
- Fighter Pilot is under Medical Fast Drug during the week in jump to and from target and automatically administered antidote on arrivals. (This is how it gets away without crew quarters.)
- Parent ship jumps into outer reaches of target system while fighters jump to near mainworld or gas giant, depending on mission
- Fighters salvo missiles, survivors micro-jump to rendezvous with parent ship in the outsystem.

The extra 1Td fuel is reserved for self-rescue from possible misjump. (Combat will occur in the 10D-100D danger zone, so misjump is quite possible.)

Spoiler

- Fighter burns 1 week (0.25Td) power plant fuel during deployment jump, jump fuel came from drop tanks. 2.75Td fuel remaining.
- Fighter burns less than 0.25Td fuel during combat (less than one week operation). 2.5+Td remaining.
- Fighter burns 1.25Td fuel (Jump and 1 week powerplant) during escape jump. 1.25+Td remaining.
- If a self-rescue jump is needed, it burns 1.25Td. Any remaining of the week's worth not used during combat can be used to maneuver to refuel after the jump.
(If you really can't abide cutting the fuel margin that close, replace the armor with another 0.5Td of fuel and we should be good.)

... and then someone higher up in the chain put their foot down and cancelled the project. No matter how totally awesome this might be, these are appallingly expensive fighters that couldn't hit the broad side of a hangar or dodge a xenobanana creme pie even with advance written notification in triplicate. And the potential losses from misjumps weren't acceptable.

Besides, the pilots didn't like being stunned for a week at a time, twice per mission.

 

[BRover]

And of course some super genius in Naval Ship Development decided to weaponize it.

. . .
and then someone higher up in the chain put their foot down. No matter how totally awesome this might be, these are appallingly expensive fighters that couldn't hit the broad side of a hangar or dodge a xenobanana creme pie even with advance written notification in triplicate. And the potential losses from misjumps weren't acceptable. . . .

Those ridiculous commanders! So unreasonable! As if money mattered . . .

 

[mike wightman]

Replace the meatbag and necessary support equipment with a LBB:8 robot brain equipped with every space skill at 4...

even more expensive and still almost totally useless, they will buy thousands of them

 

[Vile]

I like to throw things like this into the mix at points of a campaign. It keeps the players on their toes, and implies that technology can still leap forward in unexpected and surprising ways, in the tradition of the Honorverse and similar military SF. It could be that it signals a major change in fleet tactics, or that it works once because of luck or surprise, or that it fails miserably.

 

[Grav_Moped]

This is my answer to "why doesn't Traveller have jump-capable fighters?"

Because they'd be pathetic, that's why.

 

[Grav_Moped]

Replace the meatbag and necessary support equipment with a LBB:8 robot brain equipped with every space skill at 4...

even more expensive and still almost totally useless, they will buy thousands of them

But then you can actually make it effective.

Ditch the extra fuel since you don't need to self-rescue after a misjump, upgrade computer to Model/3bis so it can Jump-2 into battle using drop tanks. Use that extra space from the absent fuel to enlarge the maneuver drive to 1.7T and add TL-15 Armor-2.

It's now J2/6G (J1 without drop tanks, agility=0) and armor=2.

No longer all that pathetic. But that takes all the fun out of it!

 

[Grav_Moped]

And I've found an evil use for the base model.

Your PC party of asteroid miners finds what looks like a 10Td small craft out there among the floating rocks.

On closer examination, it appears to be the jump lifeboat conversion of a jump torpedo (wait, you can make jump torpedoes?) But it's old. Very old -- a couple of thousand years old. Lots of micrometeor hits, lots of space dust on it. There was once a coat of radar-absorbing paint on it, but it's mostly abraded away.

Its 3-ton payload (Computer is a model2/bis to free up an additional Td) is two tons of fuel and an emergency low berth containing four corpses (it's long since failed). It had an unrefueled range of 3 parsecs.

Reasonable computer skills allow extracting the lifeboat's path. It was programmed to go from Noricum (Old Sindal)/Sindal to Kydde/Pax Rulin via Magen/Pax Rulin, but misjumped on departure from Magen. There are two interesting bits of computer code present:
- If it detects that it has arrived at Kydde, it prepares the following actions:

- Arm a main self-destruct charge and the secondary charge listed below
- Land and thaw out the low berth occupants
- Erase all memory and storage on the computer, including all data logged
- After a 20 minute delay, play an audio message in very archaic Vilani: "Run away, now!*" and repeat it 10 times.
- After another three minutes, detonate the self-destruct charge and the secondary self-destruct charge​

- If the lifeboat is opened, it arms a secondary self-destruct charge

- If a specific password isn't entered within 1 minute, or if an incorrect one is entered, fire that second self-destruct charge. It repeats the fire command several times, as though they were determined to make sure it went off.​

The main self-destruct charge built into the lifeboat was powered by batteries, which have long since decayed. It will be discovered if an attempt is made to repair the lifeboat, and might partially detonate if disturbed, possibly injuring whoever disturbed it and damaging the drives (Mechanical or Electronic skill to disarm if using proto-Traveller, demolitions skill if advanced chargen is used.)

The secondary self-destruct charge is inside a cryogenic flask attached to the low berth, and is an incendiary device intended to destroy the flask's contents.

Here's what it was:

Spoiler

This is a biological warfare device of the Sindalian Empire.

The passengers were political prisoners from Kydde, infected with a highly contagious and very lethal virus with a long dormancy period. They would be automatically revived from the emergency low berth and would escape to re-enter Kyddian society, unknowingly spreading the viral plague. (See Double Adventure 1 for an example of such a disease.) The virus in the corpses is still viable, having been at near absolute zero for all this time.

The cryogenic flask contains 8 doses of a vaccine/cure, along with a data storage chip containing all information needed to replicate the medicine. It was sent along as a precaution in case the lifeboat needed to be recovered due to malfunction. The incendiary charge was to keep it from falling into the wrong hands if the lifeboat was intercepted. The medicine is still effective, as it has been at near absolute zero for all this time.

With proper

Spoiler

decontamination and

disarmament, it can be repaired and converted into the one-passenger starship from this thread's second post at any Class A starport, but only reverse-engineered and duplicated at TL13. Any competent crew working to repair or reverse-engineer it will discover its limitations (10Td maximum jump field capacity, and J2 if provided with a mod/3bis computer, a TL15 power plant, and enough fuel).



*Read it out as "Hie thee hence, posthaste!" or something similarly archaic.

 

[AnotherDilbert]

Replace the meatbag and necessary support equipment with a LBB:8 robot brain equipped with every space skill at 4...

even more expensive and still almost totally useless, they will buy thousands of them

Useless against military ships, but viable as commerce raiders?

 

[Grav_Moped]

Useless against military ships, but viable as commerce raiders?

If the goal is just to wreck shipping rather than steal cargo, sure.

Expect 50% losses from misjump if they don't carry enough fuel to self-recover from one, over and above combat losses though.
(8% outright destruction, 42% misjump but not destroyed.)

 

[Condottiere]

1. In Traveller, one hundred or two hundred tonne range would be a motor torpedo boat, or if you prefer, patrol torpedo boat, since apparently stealth doesn't exist in space.

2. Commerce raiding depends on the objective and incentive; if you can't confiscate the ship or cargo, you might as well deny it to the enemy, and if you're a well paid professional, selected for competence and patriotism, compensation and reward would lie in promotion and medals.

 

[Proneutron]

1. In Traveller, one hundred or two hundred tonne range would be a motor torpedo boat, or if you prefer, patrol torpedo boat, since apparently stealth doesn't exist in space.

Why would the fact that being invisible in space is impossible make those tonnage ranges a particular function? Not saying it ain't so, I am just curious as to why. (I don't play much if any fleet actions in my game.