General The Scout Courier is a terrible explorer

[GrayPennell]

I don't know if this has been said but I have been working on a project involving the scout ship so I have been thinking about it. With its limit jump (jump 2), fuel and limit tonnage for consumables gives it really no endurance for exploration. Its really a ship designed to work along mains most commonly found in the core. That's why its a courier

Ok that's all

 

[gchuck]

Type S ships

I couldn't agree more.

IMTU the exploration ships of the IISS are 200+ tons and J3 or J4.

Basically a Type S on steroids.

 

[aramis]

The Type S isn't really an explorer...

It's largely part of the XMail system... the Type S is designed to run the feed from the XBoat to the neighboring systems.

 

[AnotherDilbert]

The Scout is the smallest, cheapest ship that can be built under LBB2 rules. It can be mass-produced and hence be everywhere, the stellar incarnation of the Land Rover.

It has the best quality of a Scout: it is expendable, hence you can send it anywhere, anytime.


You can build more capable ships, but you will have a lot fewer of them. The Scout implies the strategy of sending ships in all directions to see what happens, rather than in a few select directions (and hence leaving large parts of the map unexplored).

Inside the Imperium the Scout is produced by the thousand and is everywhere. If something troublesome happens, chances are good that a Scout is nearby to witness what happened.

It is an essential part of the Internal Espionage (aka "Scout") service.

 

[Grav_Moped]

I don't know if this has been said but I have been working on a project involving the scout ship so I have been thinking about it. With its limit jump (jump 2), fuel and limit tonnage for consumables gives it really no endurance for exploration. Its really a ship designed to work along mains most commonly found in the core. That's why its a courier

Ok that's all

There is actually room for consumables -- the ship can be operated by a solo pilot (and if armed, a gunner). That leaves at least two of the staterooms for storage and extra life-support capacity.

And under the power-down rules from JTAS#14 (and later, Trillion Credit Squadron), the power plant can be idled to PN1 when not actually in a J2, allowing up to 7 weeks of operation on the 20 Td of fuel allocated to the power plant (Book 2 rules).

The power-down rules allow another trick: The ship has a 3-parsec range as a J2 plus a J1, with 1 week of PN1/1G available for getting to and from the Jump Limits.

Spoiler

J2 burns 20 tons fuel, plus 5 tons powerplant fuel (1/4 of 4 weeks requirement at PN2)
J1 burns 10 tons fuel, plus 2.5 tons powerplant fuel (1/4 of 4 weeks requirement at PN1)
Getting to and from Jump Limit burns 2.5 tons fuel (1/4 of 4 weeks requirement at PN1 for 1G maneuver drive)
Total: 40 Tons fuel

 

[Sir Brad]

The Type S is not an Explorer, it's a Scout, load a handful on to a larger ship that jumps in to a Star Cluster, the Scouts then fan out doing recon in neighboring systems or micro-jump in the system you are basing your self in, the Type S's do recon fly-buys and return to their base ship who then complies the target list for priority exploration by the expedition and it's large base ship.

It's also used for Courier work and maintaining Survey Data on explored systems.

 

[flykiller]

no endurance for exploration

Lu Hao

 

[Blue Ghost]

Filbric mentions it on his podcast that the Type-S really isn't that good of a "scout" ship.

As per forum policy the following is a link to the Traveller podcast hosted by the aforementioned persona. Check it out.
http://behindtheclaw.blogspot.com/

Sorry, I can't remember the episode where he said it. But yeah, a Jump 1 or Jump 2 ship doesn't have much legs for exploring.

 

[nobby-w]

Under the LBB2 rules the Type-S is a pretty useless ship as it has very little payload capacity. It's OK for smuggling or bodging around the Imperium and has the ability to run on unrefined fuel so you can operate it cheaply out in the cuds.

Other rule sets (e.g. LBB5 High Guard) allow you to make a 100t ship with more range, payload or other features. You're free to houserule this stuff if you want to.

 

[flykiller]

a Jump 1 or Jump 2 ship doesn't have much legs for exploring.

'pends on the game and the region. 'round collace looks good.

 

[Blue Ghost]

'pends on the game and the region. 'round collace looks good.

That's true. In original flavor Traveller systems were as close as Pacific islands. There was always the next system over, and the Type-S didn't suffer misjumps. So, it's all in how you run your game.

 

[KyleLittle]

I agree with AnotherDilbert. The stellar incarnation of the Land Rover is a great analogy. You need many cheap, easy to maintain ships to get Scouts into every nook and cranny of space. It's the only way to collect lots of information and have resiliency (new buzzword) when some Scouts don't make it back to make their reports.

Quantity does have a quality all its own.

 

[Grav_Moped]

From a game-mechanics standpoint, it's how you give the PCs interstellar and planetside transportation without their having to be concerned with finances. It's too weak as a combat platform to tempt the players into piracy, and the tether to the IISS provides scenario hooks.

Functionally, it's similar to giving the entire party TAS memberships that include hotel and vehicle-rental vouchers.

 

[Grav_Moped]

From the IISS perspective, they don't need long range. What matters is having observers near or on worlds. J2 will get you most places you need to go*, and you probably ought to stop at every world along the way for information/reconnaissance anyhow.

This also works from a game-mechanics standpoint: while a higher Jn can provide a larger choice of destinations, it doesn't matter all that much because any world can be the site of an adventure. Remember that originally, two subsectors should have been enough for months of gaming sessions...


*and as I noted above, a 3-parsec range (J2+J1) is possible. Gotta love that absurdly huge LBB2 powerplant tankage!

 

[kilemall]

A2 Far Traders would be the ideal exploratory platform for a garden variety planetary survey.



400-ton ships closer to the Type R but with Type C speed and jump and still a good 60/80 tons of cargo for equipment and supplies would fit the bill for extended frontier forays.

 

[Blue Ghost]

From a game-mechanics standpoint, it's how you give the PCs interstellar and planetside transportation without their having to be concerned with finances. It's too weak as a combat platform to tempt the players into piracy, and the tether to the IISS provides scenario hooks.

Functionally, it's similar to giving the entire party TAS memberships that include hotel and vehicle-rental vouchers.

But, that's offset by the fact that you still have to pay for the beast, unless you're on active duty. But that was one of my other beefs with the scout ship, or any ship given to the players as a mustering out benefit. Suddenly you had room and board "for free", although you still had to buy life support, pay for berthing and what not. Otherwise you were "set for life", so to speak.

 

[AnotherDilbert]

If you think the range is insufficient, just add a cheap 100 Dt drop tank. You now have a 200 Dt vessel with 140 Dt fuel, enough for six J-1 or ~56 weeks endurance with a powered down PP.

At J-1 it's slow, but it will get there...

 

[McPerth]

Depending on the Traveller versión you use, a 100 dt ship may have more range. See this design for an example for MgT1E.

Of course, as AnotherDIlbert says, it's quite more expensive than the type S for MgT (MCr 94 ,vs the MCr 23 of a type S), so you'd have quite less for the same Budget...

 

[AnotherDilbert]

A2 Far Traders would be the ideal exploratory platform for a garden variety planetary survey.

Civilian LBB2 ships does not have the sensor suite or fuel purification of a scout ship (by fiat), making them unsuitable for exploration.


Ships without fuel purification needs refined fuel, only reliably available on class C+ starports, else they will misjump sooner or later, probably sooner...


A Donosev Survey Scout is of course a much better exploration and survey ship, but it is something like eight times more expensive to buy and operate.

 

[kilemall]

Civilian LBB2 ships does not have the sensor suite or fuel purification of a scout ship (by fiat), making them unsuitable for exploration.


Ships without fuel purification needs refined fuel, only reliably available on class C+ starports, else they will misjump sooner or later, probably sooner...


A Donosev Survey Scout is of course a much better exploration and survey ship, but it is something like eight times more expensive to buy and operate.

I didn't say stock civilian, just form factors to get X job done. Depending on the mission mix, there could be enough ordered of an A2S (or SA2?) to get common type cost reduction.



In original LBB terms, the scout ships didn't have the refinery, they were just built rugged/secret tech to take unrefined fuel. I guess the functional equivalent of bunker fuel?


Operating a big and expensive outfit like the Scouts when they aren't even secondary navy/coast guard per se is an exercise in aligning limited resources to potentially unlimited needs.



The Type S is marginally more expensive then a small craft but can move critical messages, personnel, small critical cargo/parts, do ersatz rescue, fleet scouting (albeit more likely fixed point watching), and light exploration. As such it's a ridiculously effective ship for the service's purposes- just not a heavy explorer.


The Type J modification shows the way to further specialize it's performance if you are willing to lose two staterooms. A lot of potential in that hull.