• Welcome to the new COTI server. We've moved the Citizens to a new server. Please let us know in the COTI Website issue forum if you find any problems.

CT Only: The Littlest Starship

Are they part of a TL15 interstellar empire and can import a ton of TL15 sensor tech at a surcharge of 1000Cr above cost.

Right. Many question about a system like that have to be answered by the GM. RAW UWP data is not near enough. So few people with low TL on a planet where they must wear filter masks all the time Says either a gov't or corp. outpost of some type where the TL is what can be locally manufactured. They can repair physical components of what they have. Thus any defenses will be based on perceived need of the company or gov, which has a star faring TL , deems necessary.
 
Are they part of a TL15 interstellar empire and can import a ton of TL15 sensor tech at a surcharge of 1000Cr above cost.

Sure, it's available, but why would they bother with a hitech sensor network they can't afford nor maintain?

Does, say, Tristan da Cunha sport a state-of-the-art military sensor network? I assume that as part of the British Empire it would be available.
 
Sure, it's available, but why would they bother with a hitech sensor network they can't afford nor maintain?

Without answering the questions below it is unknown what "they" can or cannot afford. It is already obvious that they aren't natives and not a colony. So whatever high TL agency they work for may well have the bucks and the incentive to protect them...
 
Without answering the questions below it is unknown what "they" can or cannot afford. It is already obvious that they aren't natives and not a colony. So whatever high TL agency they work for may well have the bucks and the incentive to protect them...

But what if they were just on a three hour cruise and crashed? You know there is always a Gilligan....
 
It is already obvious that they aren't natives and not a colony.
Obvious?

You grasp at one possible explanation for the UWP, and declare it the only possible. I find it extremely unlikely that a corporate outpost of a hitech world would be TL-5.

Is it obvious that the few hundred inhabitants of, say, Tristan da Cunha are neither a colony nor natives?
 
Why would a TL-5 world not be able to make filter masks to filter a bit of pollen?

Why would they want to. "Yay, let's live a gazillion miles away from civilization where we have to constantly wear masks and, oh, we don't really have antibiotics, do we".

Find a high tech world with a decent atmosphere and go camping there.
 
Lets come at the initial Jump Torpedo again.

They're all Jump-1 (computer limited) and 3G (the no-payload TL15 version is 4G).

At TL9, it's 10Td with no payload (power plant is 3Td)
At TL13, it's 9Td but can be 10Td with 1Td payload (2Td power plant)
At TL15, it's 8Td but can be 10Td with 2Td payload (1Td power plant)

I'm capping this at 10Td jump tonnage to avoid enabling jump-capable small craft that are actually useful, because this is supposed to be a technological dead-end. Drop tanks are ok (and a really good idea!), but must be jettisoned prior to jump to avoid misjump risk. [Misjump DM to be somewhere between +1 and +5 per ton of tanks. Haven't decided.]

Drop tank fittings are 0Td, Cr2,000, and are needed if the J-torp takes on Jump fuel from drop tanks or from the launching vessel acting as drop tanks. Drop tanks are Cr1000/Td, and can be fabricated at Class A or B starports in one week.* They are also available at Class C starports of TL7 or above, but the cost and time are doubled.

The TL10-15 versions can be upgraded to a Model/3bis computer (at +MCr18!!) to be able to do Jump-2 with a 2Td drop tank (or fuel from a launching ship) followed by a Jump-1 on internal tanks. Or if the risk of misjump is acceptable, leave a 1.2Td tank permanently attached to enable persistent J2 capability for 10Td hulls. [I'm still undecided as to how severely this should be discouraged.]


*(TCS, p. 14). Fittings cost is for aftermarket drop tanks sized at 2Td, for the case of a J2-capable J-torp with 2Td dropped at Jump or provided from launching vessel. (House rules: Base build time is 1/10 of usual since tanks are 1/10 the size of the smallest usable drop tank in HG. Slow and costly tank build allowed at TL8+ Class C starports because it's a one-off, probably from an off-site fab shop. In this case, Admin and Streetwise can reduce time but not cost. Below TL7, the local tech doesn't include L-Hyd containment.)
 
Last edited:
Or to get really silly, lean into the misjump!

Add a 2.8Td drop tank to the 1.2Td drop tank, so it can do J2+J2. Then add a 3.2Td drop tank (or get fuel supplied from a tender or other ship) for a third J2 (all-up it's 16.25Td with the third drop tank).

Drop the third (3.2Td) tank during the first jump. High odds of a misjump with 3Td external tanks (as opposed to near-certainty with 6.25Td hanging out there).

But, it finishes the first jump with 4 parsecs (J2+J2) range and 3 weeks of fuel remaining, so a misjump is easily survivable.

The second jump drops the 2.8Td tank so the remaining 11.2Td ship+tank has a low misjump chance, and has J2 and two weeks remaining if it does misjump again.

It's a fun way to go long random distances :)

Even if you don't like this particular ship, the principle can be carried over to fully-rules-compliant ships -- just have a patron charter the PCs' ship with extra internal tanks and drop tanks to do intentional misjumps for research purposes.

This does depend on how power plant fuel use during misjump is handled, of course. If full powerplant fuel consumption is required during the entire 1-6 week misjump, this doesn't work. If Pn-1 suffices to maintain the jump field when the ship stays stuck in Jump for more than the first week (or it takes no power at all), it probably does work.
 
Quote where I said they couldn't.
Your main argument seems to be that the need for filter masks must mean they are not locals?
So few people with low TL on a planet where they must wear filter masks all the time Says either a gov't or corp. outpost of some type where the TL is what can be locally manufactured.
If the locals can manufacture filter masks, your argument seems invalidated?


Anyway, a Tainted atmosphere in Trav is NOT a bit of pollen.
Someone seems to think so:
Leander has a warm climate and a dense oxygen-nitrogen atmosphere tainted by heavy pollen.
https://wiki.travellerrpg.com/Leander_(SM_2832)_(world)#Description_.28Astrography_.26_Planetology.29




The inhabitants might even live on an island far away from major continents, to avoid major concentrations of pollen, just like Tristan da Cunha?
 
Back
Top