CT Only: TL=10 J4 4G Modular Tug

[Spinward Flow]

Modular Tug
Ship Type: AT (Merchant-A, Transport)
TL=10 (LBB5.80 using LBB2.81 standard drives)

Tonnage (custom hull): 400 tons
Configuration: 2 (Cone, streamlined, MCr44)
Fuel Scoops (MCr0.4)
Armor: 0

Jump-H (code: 4, 45 tons, MCr80, Capacitor storage: 8 tons = 288 EP maximum) (LBB2.81, p22)
Maneuver-H (code: 4, 15 tons, MCr32) (LBB2.81, p22)
Power Plant-H (code: 4, 25 tons, MCr64, EP: 16, Surplus EP: +1 @ Agility 3, Emergency Agility: 5) (LBB2.81, p22)
Total Drives: 45+15+25=85 tons

Fuel: 200 tons (4 parsecs = 160 tons) (4 weeks operations = 40 tons, up to 16 weeks powered down)
Fuel Purification Plant: 200 ton capacity (8 tons, MCr0.036) (LBB5.80, p27, 36)
L-Hyd drop tank fittings (MCr0.01) (LBB A5, p14)

Hardpoints: 1 (MCr0.1) (LBB2.81, p15 and p23)
Triple Turrets: 1 (MCr1) (LBB2.81, p23)
Triple Turret: Sandcaster, Pulse Laser, Missile (1 ton, MCr1.5, EP: 1) (LBB5.80, p25)
Batteries:

• 1 Sandcaster (code: 3)
• 1 Pulse Laser (code: 1)
• 1 Missile (code: 1)

Bridge (20 tons, MCr2)
Computer: 4 (Code: 4, 4 tons, MCr30, TL: A, EP: 2)
Crew required: 4 officers, 4 ratings

1. Pilot-1
2. Navigator-1
3. Engineering-2 (chief)
4. Engineering-1
5. Engineering-1
6. Steward-2
7. Medic-2
8. Gunnery-1

Staterooms: 8 single occupancy (32 tons, MCr4)
1x Workshop: regenerative life support recycling (4 tons, MCr0.6)
2x Laboratory: regenerative life support biome (8 tons, MCr1.2, hydroponics and carniculture)

• Environmental Control Type V-c capacity: up to 12 persons

Internal Cargo: 8 tons
Small Craft Berths and Ordinary Launch Facilities:

• Internal Hangar Berth (1 module): 30 tons capacity (30 tons, MCr0.06) (LBB5.80, p32)
• External Docking Berths (20 modules): 600 tons capacity (0 tons, MCr1.2) (LBB5.80, p32)

1x 30 ton Modular Cutter Module (MCr2, 1 cargo module)
Waste Space: 0 tons

Modular Tug       AT-3244441-030000-10001-0   MCr211.2848   400 tons
    batteries bearing         1     1   1                TL=10. FPP.
    batteries                 1     1   1                Crew=8. PL.
Passengers=0. Low=0. Cargo=8. Hangar=30. Fuel=200. EP=16. Agility=3.
1x 30 ton Modular Cutter Cargo Module.
600 ton capacity external berths and ordinary launch facilities.
Jump-2, Maneuver-2 @ up to 800 tons total (+400 tons external)
Jump-1, Maneuver-1 @ up to 1000 tons total (+600 tons external)

Interplanetary Travel (distance, acceleration, time) (link)

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Single production

• Total Cost: MCr264.106
• 20% Down Payment: MCr52.8212
• Architect Fees: MCr264.106
• Construction Time: 64 weeks (LBB A5, p33)
• Annual Overhaul: Cr264,106 (LBB2.81, p8)

Volume production (80% single production cost)

• Total Cost: MCr211.2848
• 20% Down Payment: MCr42.25696
• Construction Time: 52 weeks (LBB A5, p33)
• Annual Overhaul: Cr211,285 (LBB2.81, p8)

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• Life Support: Cr0 due to regenerative life support workshop+laboratories yielding Environmental Control Type V-c
• Minimum Crew Salaries: Cr15,150 per 2 weeks (LBB2.81, p11, p16)
• Surface to Orbit Shuttle Costs: Cr10 per cargo ton, Cr20 to 120 per passenger (LBB2.81, p9)
• Fuel: Cr500 per ton (refined), Cr100 per ton (unrefined), Cr0 (skimmed) (LBB2.81, p7)

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• Mail Delivery: Cr5,000 revenue per ton on delivery (Cr25,000 max) (LBB2.81, p9)
• Interstellar Cargo Transport: Cr1000 per ton to declared destination (LBB2.81, p8-9)
• Interplanetary Charters 12+ hours): Cr1 per hour per ton of ship (Cr300 per hour), minimum 12 hours (Cr3600) (LBB2.81, p9)
• Interstellar Charters (2 weeks): Cr900 per ton of cargo, Cr900 per low passage berth, Cr9000 per high passage berth (LBB2.81, p9)

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• Imperial subsidies reduce gross revenue receipts by 50% for passengers, cargo and mail (LBB2.81, p7)

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Single production economic break even per 2 weeks for annualized costs (including life support, berthing fees, crew salaries and annual overhaul costs) @ 25 jumps per year (25*14=350 days):

• Overhead costs: 0 + 100 + 15,150*(26/25) + (264,106/25) = Cr26,421
  • Paid off revenue: Cr27,000 = 27 tons cargo = Cr579 profit
  • Subsidy revenue: 53,000 / 2 = Cr26,500 revenue = 53 tons cargo = Cr79 profit

Volume production economic break even per 2 weeks for annualized costs (including life support, berthing fees, crew salaries and annual overhaul costs) @ 25 jumps per year (25*14=350 days):

• Overhead costs: 0 + 100 + 15,150*(26/25) + (211,285/25) = Cr24,308
  • Paid off revenue: Cr25,000 = 25 tons cargo = Cr692 profit
  • Subsidy revenue: 49,000 / 2 = Cr24,500 = 49 tons cargo = Cr192 profit

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• Cr5,282,120 per year (Cr211,285 per 2 weeks 25 times per year) average profits are sufficient to recoup the base cost of volume construction costs over 40 years in order to break even on all costs.
• Cr12,677,088 per year (Cr507,084 per 2 weeks 25 times per year) average profits are required to pay off bank loan financing over 40 years in order to break even on all costs.

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Jump-4 cargo capacity: 38 tons maximum = Cr34,200 interstellar charter

• 8 tons cargo internal
• 1x 30 tons modular cargo modules internal

Jump-2 cargo capacity: 438 tons maximum = Cr394,200 interstellar charter

• 8 tons cargo internal
• 1x 30 tons modular cargo modules internal
• 13x 30 tons modular cargo modules external
• 1x 10 tons small craft external

Jump-1 cargo capacity: 638 tons maximum = Cr574,200 interstellar charter

• 8 tons cargo internal
• 1x 30 tons modular cargo modules internal
• 20x 30 tons modular cargo modules external

 

[Spinward Flow]

As I alluded to in a previous thread on the subject, I wasn't expecting THAT dramatic of a difference to come out of exchanging LBB5.80 custom drives for LBB2.81 standard drives.

The main differences?

1. The standard jump drives have more "towing capacity" than custom drives do, while the reverse is true for maneuver drives … custom maneuver drives have more "towing capacity" than standard drives.
2. Standard drives are more "dense" for their respective code factors overall than custom drives, primarily due to the "3 tons per 1 EP" mandated for TL=9-12 power plants under LBB5.80, making power plants both enormous and exorbitantly expensive at these low average stellar tech levels.
3. Standard drive power plants are "less efficient" with their fuel requirements below 1000 tons due to the way the fuel formula is calculated, but with a fuel purification plant capable of handling the "extra demand load" of LBB2.81 standard power plants the costs associated with needing extra fuel relative to custom LBB5.80 custom power plants can be substantially negated.
4. In some hull sizes when looking at specific drive performance equivalencies, it is actually possible for smaller standard drives with higher fuel consumption requirements to demand less overall tonnage within a starship's hull than larger custom drives with lower fuel consumption requirements.
5. The higher "density" per performance of standard drives versus custom drives can make a difference in total tonnage allocated to drives and therefore the number of Engineers needed in the crew to maintain those drives, leading to additional savings elsewhere in a starship's overall design features.

This design effort wound up being quite the eye opener on a variety of topics, including (but not limited to):

• The "value" hidden within External Cargo Capacity for making higher jump number starships potentially profitable in a wider array of circumstances where those ships exchange jump and maneuver drive efficiency/performance for external loading.
• The "proper" (for me at least) way to formulate a closed loop regenerative life support system in a CT context which I'm thinking would yield a significant boost to the quality of life for all crew members aboard (something that CT doesn't pay much attention to at all ).
• The "flexibility" involved in crafting a starship explicitly built as essentially a Container Ship oriented around "mass transportation" of 30 ton Modular Cutter Modules as a core business model for a merchant starship.

Although I didn't manage to keep the 3.5.5 balance of drive performance used in my previous design effort relying on TL=12 custom LBB5.80 drives, I'm honestly astonished by the fact that a 4.4.4 balance using standard LBB2.81 drives at TL=10(!) actually wound up yielding a cheaper(!) overall starship cost in a hull size +100 tons larger(!) with essentially 2x the external load capacity through jump offered by the custom drives.

That is just truly astonishing.

Best of all, this 400 ton "low tech" TL=10 starship design is essentially a kind of "backdoor" way to build a 1000 ton starship that doesn't "have to be 1000 tons all the time" (if that makes any sense). That's because it's a 400 ton starship with excess drive capacity that can be "loaded up" externally up to the limit of 400+600=1000 tons ... but when it isn't loaded up to the maximum you've got a pretty sporty little J4/4G starship that can make for quite the Adventure Class Starship that's ready to take on almost any tasking you can think of simply because of how flexible the design is.

Also, I am fully onboard with the notion that until Jump-2/3/4 advancements are unlocked for custom built jump drives at TL=11/12/13, the performance of the standard Jump-H drive installed in these starships ought to be limited to Jump-1. Once the "secrets" of higher jump numbers are "unlocked" by later jump technology advancements in the society building/maintaining these starships, the standard Jump-H drives can be "retuned/rebalanced/updated" to enable those higher jump numbers up to the maximum performance point of Jump-4 in a "clean" configuration with no external load. That way the Jump-H standard drive still retains its innate "towing capacity" for external loading through jump, but until the higher jump numbers have been "discovered" the standard Jump-H drive remains limited to the maximum available for the technology level applied to the setting more generally. So in a setting location such as the Distant Fringe (for example), since the setting is limited to Jump-2, the Jump-H drive used in this starship would also be limited to a maximum performance of Jump-2 ... even though the drive is capable of Jump-4 performance in a 400 ton hull (per LBB2.81, p22), because the "secrets" of Jump-3 have not been unlocked yet within that setting.



Oh and one minor crew roster side note.
Although the default crew roster lists the Pilot as an officer and the Navigator as a rating in terms of rank structure, I figure that this will not necessarily always be the case. For some crews, the Navigator will be the senior bridge officer, if not captain/owner of the starship with the Pilot being the junior bridge officer instead. Doesn't make any difference mathematically to crew salaries according to the formula, but I figure it's one of those quirks that could come into play if someone wanted to use one of these Modular Tugs as a "hero ship" in a campaign.

And yes ... as always, this starship design is Mail Contract "ready" ... it just needs signatures on dotted lines to start raking in those sweet guaranteed revenues after every jump.

 

[Spinward Flow]

Interplanetary Charters 12+ hours): Cr1 per hour per ton of ship (Cr300 per hour), minimum 12 hours (Cr3600) (LBB2.81, p9)

Errata:
Interplanetary Charters (12+ hours): Cr1 per hour per ton of ship (Cr400 per hour), minimum 12 hours (Cr4800) (LBB2.81, p9)

 

[Spinward Flow]

This starship design is being retconned out of existence and "de-canonized" (for whatever that's worth) by the author (me), in favor of a superior design that I will be posting ... Soon™.