Vessel Construction

[Banzai]

Hi I have been playing with the vessel construction rules and came up with a couple of questions. Mostly related to scale. I am using the T20 (D20 system) rules.

On vehicle contruction the chasis size is in vl. How does this relate to the displacement tons for spacecraft and starships? is it one for one a chais size of 1vl = 1 ton etc.

On power purchased for vehicles how does it scale compared to larger ships? IMTU I have been dividing vehicle EP by 100 and this represents the usable EP to a starship.

A last questions is there any additional errata or changes coming out regarding vehicle, small craft or starship contruction I should keep an eye out for.

Thanks.

David

 

[Spyder_GS]

If I recall rightly it was 1400vl to a dton. Don't recall the ton to dton ratio.

Also I think the dton is equivalent to 2mx2mx2m.

Anyone have any better info?

 

[daryen]

Originally posted by Spyder:
If I recall rightly it was 1400vl to a dton. Don't recall the ton to dton ratio.

Also I think the dton is equivalent to 2mx2mx2m.

Anyone have any better info?

I don't have T20, but assuming it is fully based on CT, a dton is equivalent to 3m x 3m x 1.5m. (CT ship plans were done using 1.5m x 1.5m squares. Each deck was assumed to be "two squares" tall. Therefore, each square on the floorplan was a half of a dton.)

Therefore, a dton = 13.5 cubic meters. I believe later editions of Traveller set this to 14 instead of 13.5. T20 may use the 14 figure.

I have no clue what a "vl" is, but, assuming you have your scale right, the a dton is either 1350 or 1400 vl.

As for mass, there is no real ton to dton conversion as different things have different mass. Again, I don't have T20 so I can't say how they handle it. CT completely ignored mass. Other editions gave each component as mass, and you just added everything up to get a final number.

 

[far-trader]

The above are pretty much the way I understand it too with one small caveat, and a pet peeve. The vl is I think an abstraction of both mass and volume (kind of averaged) and there seems to be no direct correlation. 1350vl or 1400vl to a dT seem to be close but a direct relationship would have been nicer. There is a size relationship table that cross references gross sizes of the two systems, but I think there is errata for it and of course it is broadly defined (sorry book's not handy for a page ref).

The energy I'm pretty sure is stated as a 1/100 deal but again a pp, why call them both "energy points" and abbreviate them EP. For my own designs I'm making a habit of using 'ep' for vehicles and 'EP' for ships.

Yes T20 is using the old CT convention of 1.5m squares and 3.0m deck ht. (total, includes ~2.5m clear and ~0.5m stuff) and two such squares (13.5m3) to represent a dT.

 

[sandman]

Originally posted by daryen:
[QBI have no clue what a "vl" is, but, assuming you have your scale right, the a dton is either 1350 or 1400 vl.
[/QB]

IIRC, you are right. The dton being defined as the volume of 1 ton of liquid hydrogen.

I seem to remember reading that there is 1400vl/dton somewhere in T20. should be just before the Ship Design Sequence, right after the Vehicle Design Sequence.

 

[Forged]

I could be wrong on these, but THB defines a vl as one cubic centimeter, and 1 dton is about 1400vl.

 

[Spyder_GS]

Oooh, thanks for the correction on the scale of a dton. 'course now I have to go and re-eval my deck plans (smeg!)

 

[far-trader]

Originally posted by Spyder:
Oooh, thanks for the correction on the scale of a dton. 'course now I have to go and re-eval my deck plans (smeg!)

Or if its a matter of you showing double the volume just add a note that all decks are only 1.5m high and it is a ship specially designed for Hobbits!

 

[Spyder_GS]

Actually, that would work, tho I'd have to recalc the displacements. I am using the D20 races in MTU as well as the T20 races. It lends a bit more diversity.

 

[rancke]

Originally posted by Forged:
I could be wrong on these, but THB defines a vl as one cubic centimeter, and 1 dton is about 1400vl.

One cubic decimeter (1000 cubic centimeters), actually. Or one liter, if you prefer.

Hans