To give a sense of scale

[Azezel]

I was preparing a little piece to give to my players, visual and mental images to help them imagine their ship and I stumbled upon a comparison I felt like sharing here.

The An-225 - the world's largest (in some ways) plane has a 1,300m³ cargo hold.

That number leapt out at me given the normal back-of-a-beermat figure of 13.5m³ equalling 1 Dton.

The An-225 has a 92.3 Dton hold. Or near-as-dammit the same as the 88 Dton hold of the redoubtable Type-A.

And it looks like this!

That's a big, big space - bigger I admit, than I normally picture when picturing something like a Type-A.

Of course, one'd like to have the hold of one's ship stuffed full, most of the time, but I think this also gives a sense of what could actually fit inside a trader's cargo bay.

I think next time I run a trading campaign, I'll mix things up once in a while. Not just standard shipping containers full of widgets every time.

Sky's (not) the limit... Wind turbine blades, dump trucks, bucket-wheel excavators, starship pre-assemblies, Entire aircraft or maritime vessels!



Just remember, the one thing one absolutely cannot afford to have in a universe this big, is a sense of proportion!

 

[aramis]

Except for Megatraveller, the DTon is 14m³.
At which point, that thing has a 92.8 Td cargo bay.

ALmost exactly a Type A's cargo bay.

 

[SpaceBadger]

Nice post, thanks!

Maybe you can tell me something that has been an issue for me with the ship that Sabredog designed for SBRD (it has a nose that folds up out of the way to allow ride-on ride-off loading/unloading): How do they utilize the space in the tail that is shown folded up out of the way? In the image it appears to be finished out inside just like the cargo bay interior - but how do they load it? Or is that space just left empty?

 

[Azezel]

Except for Megatraveller, the DTon is 14m³.

I know, I know. I would say I'm just stuck in my ways (and I am) but I've always used the 13.5m³ Dton and then T5 came along and 13.5 is back again. It's a bit like if you don't change your clock for six months it starts being correct again.

(As I recall, a Dton should technically be 14.1 m³? Something like that. A hair over 14...)

Nice post, thanks!

Maybe you can tell me something that has been an issue for me with the ship that Sabredog designed for SBRD (it has a nose that folds up out of the way to allow ride-on ride-off loading/unloading): How do they utilize the space in the tail that is shown folded up out of the way? In the image it appears to be finished out inside just like the cargo bay interior - but how do they load it? Or is that space just left empty?

That's actually the nose and it looks like this, folded down.

The floor isn't load-baring, but it will accept long cargoes that don't fit entirely within the main bay area.

 

[mike wightman]

T5 for some totally inexplicable reason has gone with the 13.5m^3 displacement ton too.

 

[whulorigan]

Displacement-ton size

T5 for some totally inexplicable reason has gone with the 13.5m^3 displacement ton too.

Probably because it makes that math vs. deckplans mechanic work nicely.

1.5m x 1.5m x 3.0m = 13.5 m³ = 1 dton.

So each dton is exactly 2 deck squares (viewed from above), and each dton (from the side view perspective) is 2x2 squares (3.0m x 3.0m). Everything becomes multiples of 1.5.

If you use 14.0m³ as your basis, the math to deckplans ratios are a little more "messy".

 

[BillDowns]

Probably because it makes that math vs. deckplans mechanic work nicely.

1.5m x 1.5m x 3.0m = 13.5 m³ = 1 dton.

So each dton is exactly 2 deck squares (viewed from above), and each dton (from the side view perspective) is 2x2 squares (3.0m x 3.0m). Everything becomes multiples of 1.5.

If you use 14.0m³ as your basis, the math to deckplans ratios are a little more "messy".

It's not all that messy. Figure 2.08 "deck" tons (or deck squares) per dton.

 

[whulorigan]

It's not all that messy. Figure 2.08 "deck" tons (or deck squares) per dton.

Yes, but 2.00 deck squares per dton is much simpler for determining displacement from deck plans, or when you are designing deck plans for a ship, or when you are placing cargoes in a hold.

 

[GypsyComet]

The 2.08 figure has one advantage. You can "puff out" a ship's curves instead of cutting into your tonnage. When someone asks where the rest of the fuel is, "in the curves" becomes a legitimate answer.