Condottiere
SOC-14 5K
I just remembered another safari ship.
What about the freighter that brought Kong to New York?
What about the freighter that brought Kong to New York?
What is a Safari Ship?
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nickgark
SOC-7
Adobe Illustrator, but I've built up quite a library of deckplan symbols over the years.What tool(s) did you use to create the deck plan?
nickgark
SOC-7
The starting point of these deckplans was that the safari ship was a modification of an existing yacht design - the Gallant. I chose to keep the air/raft hangar in roughly the same place as in the Animal-class safari ship to keep up the commonality between the designs.
re: lifts, you make a good point, but the issue is that the interior of the Gallant is very constrained - I don't consider lifts to be through traffic features, so it would need to be in an alcove, and there just isn't space for such (I tried!)
The Guide/Prof-Hunter distinction is a fuzzy one. A guide of my acquaintance was hired several times to remove troublesome grolars by (from what I can tell) local F&WL Troopers in Houston (Alaska; north west of Wasilla). The situation was that they were too busy with seasonal hunting and offered the contract to known trusted guides as a bounty; more if captured alive for relocation.
Grolars are polar + golden grizzly (A breed of Brown Bear) hybrids, and lack a grizzly's common sense and inhibition, while gaining a polar's strength and curiosity. A VERY dangerous combination. "Officially," they're not known south of the Alaska Range. Unofficially, they're starting to find their way through the passes.
As written in CT-S4 or MT-PM, the Hunter career can be a guide, or a professional capture technician, or a photosafarian, or even a wildlife host. The career is vague enough to cover all 4.
Grolars are polar + golden grizzly (A breed of Brown Bear) hybrids, and lack a grizzly's common sense and inhibition, while gaining a polar's strength and curiosity. A VERY dangerous combination. "Officially," they're not known south of the Alaska Range. Unofficially, they're starting to find their way through the passes.
As written in CT-S4 or MT-PM, the Hunter career can be a guide, or a professional capture technician, or a photosafarian, or even a wildlife host. The career is vague enough to cover all 4.
Condottiere
SOC-14 5K
I think the difference is the cost and investment.
A weekend hunter and a pickup, might be the equivalent of having a cheap smallcraft and a nearby moon with an atmosphere.
This seems very much an extended expedition for someone who could afford it, and supposedly glorify in the activity.
A weekend hunter and a pickup, might be the equivalent of having a cheap smallcraft and a nearby moon with an atmosphere.
This seems very much an extended expedition for someone who could afford it, and supposedly glorify in the activity.
Timerover51
SOC-14 5K
I would sy that I view a Safari ship to some degree as a specialized form of Yacht. All it would take is for a noble or rich individual with a penchant for exploration and hunting like Sir Samuel Baker in the 19th century for one to be built. I say "to some degree" as I can also see universities and zoos building one or chartering one for animal collecting.
For more background on hunting, I would recommend searching "Hunting" on Project Gutenberg, or Jim Corbett on archive.org. Also search for "Samuel Baker" for more books on hunting. For animal collecting, search "The Overloaded Ark" or "The Bafut Beagles" by Gerald Durrell online.
Reviewing this, to make it a Hunter I would overlay the lower deck crew quarters and galley over the lower forward passenger staterooms and use both sides of the resulting cargo space as the animal holding cells. Probably the larger left space as the sea -capable tank.
Lounge becomes trophy room.
Jetrock
SOC-8
I prefer the "Safari Ship as yacht for the nouveau riche" school of thought. I see the Safari Ship as comparable in some ways to the luxury SUV or oversized truck, which, while it technically has four-wheel drive and off-road capability, a powerful engine and cargo capacity that allows it to do relatively rugged outdoor things, is principally valued for its comfortable, well-appointed interior with lots of passenger space, but it just looks more rugged and outdoorsy to the casual observer than a luxury car; it communicates to those who see it, "I am wealthy, but unlike that effete dilettante in a Bentley or Mercedes-Benz, I am also rugged and masculine!" even if the driver never takes the car off the road or outside the city limits. That said, there's no reason why a particular Safari Ship couldn't actually be used for lots of rugged and masculine activities--plenty of Land Rovers get used for field work. Could the owner be equally masculine flying a Far Trader with more cargo capacity, the same performance, and lower cost? Sure, but you wouldn't look as cool while you're doing it.
The flip side of that is, of course, what happens if you want a cool looking cargo ship? Theoretically, if you removed the mostly-useless launch (who needs a small craft for a streamlined 200 ton ship? Why waste 1/8 of the hull when you can land it anywhere you can land a launch?) you'd have about 50 tons of cargo space, not quite as much as the aforementioned Far Trader, and if you were willing to risk the naugahyde rug in the trophy lounge (think of how many naugas were skinned to make that rug!) you could get back a few more tons of cargo capacity in a pinch. The special-environment bays could also be adapted to freight use, and might even come in handy for shipping bulk liquids (it can be filled with liquid for aquatic animals) or cargoes that have to be stored under extreme temperatures or exotic atmospheres, plus live animals do sometimes come up as trade goods to ship; part of the admittedly weak justification for Safari Ships is meeting the demands of the many zoos and nature preserves of the Imperium. It's also a practical charter vessel for a small but wealthy party to get from Point A to Point B in style--assuming you don't convert the trophy lounge to a bigger cargo bay, luxury accommodations can help attract more High Passage passengers on your shipping route. It may not bring the same return on investment as a Fat Trader, but think of how cool you'll look winging into the spaceport with your sleek, tailfin-bedecked Safari Ship with a load of Pysadian marmalade in the cargo bay!
I'm thinking about exactly this scenario for my new Traveller campaign, along with some other minor tweaks to the Safari Ship basic design.
The flip side of that is, of course, what happens if you want a cool looking cargo ship? Theoretically, if you removed the mostly-useless launch (who needs a small craft for a streamlined 200 ton ship? Why waste 1/8 of the hull when you can land it anywhere you can land a launch?) you'd have about 50 tons of cargo space, not quite as much as the aforementioned Far Trader, and if you were willing to risk the naugahyde rug in the trophy lounge (think of how many naugas were skinned to make that rug!) you could get back a few more tons of cargo capacity in a pinch. The special-environment bays could also be adapted to freight use, and might even come in handy for shipping bulk liquids (it can be filled with liquid for aquatic animals) or cargoes that have to be stored under extreme temperatures or exotic atmospheres, plus live animals do sometimes come up as trade goods to ship; part of the admittedly weak justification for Safari Ships is meeting the demands of the many zoos and nature preserves of the Imperium. It's also a practical charter vessel for a small but wealthy party to get from Point A to Point B in style--assuming you don't convert the trophy lounge to a bigger cargo bay, luxury accommodations can help attract more High Passage passengers on your shipping route. It may not bring the same return on investment as a Fat Trader, but think of how cool you'll look winging into the spaceport with your sleek, tailfin-bedecked Safari Ship with a load of Pysadian marmalade in the cargo bay!
I'm thinking about exactly this scenario for my new Traveller campaign, along with some other minor tweaks to the Safari Ship basic design.
More than ever now, I think there is a clear niche for the Safari Ship.
As a specialized commercial ship, the Safari Ship caters to the wealthy Traveller as a way to experience the untamed beauty of the wilderness. It's a guided touring ship, which means there's a market for guided tours.
That means a fellow with survival skills who owns a Safari Ship can make a living off of charters.
As a specialized commercial ship, the Safari Ship caters to the wealthy Traveller as a way to experience the untamed beauty of the wilderness. It's a guided touring ship, which means there's a market for guided tours.
- The Yacht is a noble-owned, non-commercial ship for (a) diplomatic and (b) "civilizational" cruising.
- The Safari is a commercial wilderness experience with a high budget.
That means a fellow with survival skills who owns a Safari Ship can make a living off of charters.
Rigel Stardin
SOC-13
You know, they could be used a scouts or follow up missions in order to see what life is on the planet?
Spinward Flow
SOC-14 5K
THIS is going to be the key point. You basically want to have a starship design that can operate profitably as a charter ship.
Under LBB2 economics, that in turn means that you are earning 90% of ticket revenues on low passage, high passage and cargo tonnage (but earn nothing for middle passage) in interstellar transport contexts. For interplanetary charters, it's a simple Cr1 per ton of ship per hour with a 12 hour minimum (so a 400 ton ship earns Cr400 per hour).
You're also going to want some fusion powered grav vehicles (not all destinations have combustion friendly atmospheres) and an interface small craft to carry those vehicles (and charter guests) for that "light footprint" wilderness experience while dirtside. The Safari Ship itself becomes more of a jump sled to carry these package tours.
Ideally speaking you would want a Safari Ship to be either J1 or J2 with a collapsible fuel tank reserve for extra range to get across voids (when necessary) more easily. Owing to how "revenue tonnage efficiency" increases as displacement goes up towards 1000 tons, I can easily imagine that a 600 ton starship with TL=10 F/F/G drives (68 tons total requires only 2 engineers but can support Double Fire computer programming!) for J2/M2/PP2 would hit a particular sweet spot for an LBB2.81 design with some LBB5.80 elements thrown in (like fuel purification) along with LBB A5 collapsible fuel tanks for the cargo hold. Could make for a fun little challenge project ...
Best of all, since cargo space is fungible, the Safari Ship could be something of a derivative of a style of "Long Trader" baseline design capable of 2J2 performance that specializes in the "wilderness tour" charter experience.
Condottiere
SOC-14 5K
You're going to need a brave and sure skipper, and a mighty sailing man as his first mate.
You could have as passengers millionaires and their spouses, entertainers, scientists, and the girl next door.
You could have as passengers millionaires and their spouses, entertainers, scientists, and the girl next door.
Someone hit that man with their hat . . .
I have serious doubts he can make his living off on it:
A safari ship (according TTB) can carry a party of 6 (so 6 high passengers) and has a cargo capacity of 6 tons, so the monthly cost to charter (and so the income for the owner) it is Cr 59400. From this, the owner must pay the mortgage (about KCr 337), the crew fees, etc, so facing bankrupcy on the short run.
Of course, the problem is charter rules are thought only for merchants/liners, and broken for anything else...
I guess that's because there exist no rooms for middle massage, using the ones for high passage.
IMTU, small saterooms (or double occupancy) may be used for it, based on a comment in an adventure in Alien Realms where it talks about middle passage being shared rooms, but in the rules as written, there's no reference to this being really allowed.
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Condottiere
SOC-14 5K
If you have a critical mass of passengers, you could a hunt onboard.
Passengers could be on a safari, for love.
I would add the animal handling tanks as cargo space for charter.
The trophy room would be a luxury plus for attracting business.
I would also charge the charter rate per week, rather then per jump, as the ship will likely loiter at least a week on the hunt before travelling back.
The trophy room would be a luxury plus for attracting business.
I would also charge the charter rate per week, rather then per jump, as the ship will likely loiter at least a week on the hunt before travelling back.
MThompson016
SOC-12
Mentioned as a variant Safari Ship in GT Starships, the Baso Rita class survey ship.
