What ship to have my party use?

[loudriver23]

They currently have a Jump2 Far Trader, but the scenario calls for a jump 4 capable ship. I'm not seeing a lot of options in the Core Rulebook nor the Traders & Gunboats book. What would you suggest I let the players hop into? Should I just have them upgrade the jump drives on their Far Trader, or am I overlooking something?
Thanks,
Louis

 

[rancke]

They currently have a Jump2 Far Trader, but the scenario calls for a jump 4 capable ship. I'm not seeing a lot of options in the Core Rulebook nor the Traders & Gunboats book. What would you suggest I let the players hop into? Should I just have them upgrade the jump drives on their Far Trader, or am I overlooking something?

How big is the cargo bay? Or rather, how much isn't tied up with cargo that they have to have along? If it's 20% or more of the ship's volume, they can install collapsible tanks and carry along a second load of fuel for a second jump.


Hans

 

[shield]

The old A2 has about 50-60tns cargo, an extra J2 fuel is only 40tns, so there should be some cargo space left. They can always leave the air/raft behind if they need a bit more space

Or you could use the old SDB jump shuttle. It has fuel for 3 J1 with a 400tn SDB attached, so they should be abale to manage J4 in several jumps if only carrying an A2

 

[Chuck Anumia]

Do they need to own the ship or can they do a working passage on another ship with longer legs?

 

[steventirey1985]

I don't think its possible to upgrade the current ship to jump-4. With the required jump drive and power plant upgrade, along with the additional jump and powerplant fuel needed, your into negative cargo space. You would have to gut some of the ship to make it all fit.

Edit: Nope, no gutting needed. The additional 44 tons of fuel, and the larger drive and power-plant (16 additional tons) does drop the cargo space down to 4 tons though. Don't forget to upgrade the computer as well, for the needed jump program. (Model 4, or model 3 with a jump control specialization). No additional space required for that, though. Just money. Roughly 74 million credits total, not counting what ever you sell the old parts for, or any labor charges for the work needed. (Yeah, the class D jump drives and power plant combined cost more then their current entire ship was worth brand new.)

 

[BytePro]

Yeah - the MgT Far Trader has 64 tons of cargo space. So 40 tons plus 2 per week for any additional PP operations (since they will be making 2 jumps to cover ~4 jump parsecs). Plus a few tons for transfer plumbing, perhaps.

CSC or one of the other books mentions collapsible tanks - but seem to recall details like price/extra tonnage are overlooked. (Sure there is a thread somewhere on Mongoose Forums about this...)

External drop tanks are also an option - allowing them to retain their cargo tonnage. Cost is 1.1 MCr and 2 tons (internal for tank mount) per 50 ton tank. (HG pg 43 - also in the free SRD, IIRC) If they are jettisoning the tanks (i.e. one shot use in each system - tank cost is the .1 MCr), then M-Drive rating is reduced before they do, but they can perform the Jump without factoring in the mass of the tanks. There is also an increased risk of misjump.

Another option would be a Jump Tender - or sequestering the ship inside a large cargo vessel.

Not covered by the rules, but empty system hexes don't necessarily mean no fuel... in RL, wandering GGs have been discovered (not to mention stellar types not accounted for in system gen - which is not really covered in MgT anyway), not to mention frozen interstellar bodies which most likely exist (and certainly can in Traveller, regardless).

You can make up your own mechanic for that - maybe they just add some operating fuel and have a mini-adventure seeking fuel in 'the between'.

Enjoy!

 

[MCEvans]

Just ideas

A Gazelle is J4. Cargo is 15 dt is not much for trade goods. How the would get it is up to you.:devil:
How long are they needing a J4 for? 1-2 jumps go for the bladder in the cargo holdof the A2, will give more options later on. A couple of months charter it. 3-4 years....:devil:

 

[loudriver23]

The ship they are in has been flagged with a fugitive alert. They either need to disguise their existing ship, or get a a different one. I do like the idea Of collapsible fuel tanks for a second 2 parsec jump. I just don't want to give them a souped up Corsair quite yet. They truly haven't even earned the Far Trader they have now.

 

[shield]

Ripping out drives and fitting larger ones is a full shipyard job taking several months and lots and lots of cash (TCS had major refits costing 1.5 x cost of new items and 1/4 ot the time to build a new ship - 12wks for a 200tn ship).

Fuel bladders are cheap and only take up 1/100th of their capacity when empty. They are just plastic bags. They are not counted as part of the normal fuel tanks and you have to transfer the fuel to the normal tanks before using them. TCS says they cost Cr500 per ton of capacity and take 1 week to install at a A or B class port in a week (don't see why the PCs could not install them

They could also go for fixed internal tanks. These are metal tanks that act as part of the normal fuel tanks. Cost Cr 1,000 per ton of capacity. They take 10wks to build. They can be installed in about a week at any starport for Cr10 per ton. Ships crew can do it in 2 weeks. Trick here is to buy / steal some already built tanks.

 

[loudriver23]

A Gazelle is J4. Cargo is 15 dt is not much for trade goods. How the would get it is up to you.:devil:
How long are they needing a J4 for? 1-2 jumps go for the bladder in the cargo holdof the A2, will give more options later on. A couple of months charter it. 3-4 years....:devil:

It would either have to be a charter, or perhaps a salvage job that would require some repair.

 

[Easterner9504]

Trade it in at a junkyard for a 500t Long Trader. MgT Supp 10: Merchants & Cruisers

 

[Hyphen]

I don't think its possible to upgrade the current ship to jump-4.

My guess is that Hans meant stick with the J2 drives and do a deep space jump and refuel - was that right, Hans?

As for disguising the ship, a recent RTT scenario suggested a repaint and added fairings - and probably a new transponder.

 

[loudriver23]

As for disguising the ship, a recent RTT scenario suggested a repaint and added fairings - and probably a new transponder.

I'm guessing this will be thing kind of thing my players will look into doing. I'm sure they will not want to give up their "Baby". They will be willing to install extra tanks, scoops, and processors, along with the transponder and any necessary aesthetics.

 

[aramis]

My guess is that Hans meant stick with the J2 drives and do a deep space jump and refuel - was that right, Hans?

THat's how I read Hans' suggestion... and why I didn't make the same suggestion... since Hans already made it.

 

[Merxiless]

Hm.

- Go for wilderness refueling at a Gas Giant J-2 away on a marked on the map system.
- Meet a guy and pay for coordinates to the J-2 away secret Rogue planet ice world (crack the ice, then jump via unrefined).
- Handwave the scenario so that is is J-2 away.

Everyone else has covered bladders, and collapsible and such.

- Pay someone with a Large Cargo Bay (tm) to J-4 with the ship inside it. i.e. ship as cargo at 1,000 a ton or whatever, plus staterooms for each crewmember.
(nobody expected that one i betcha.)

 

[BytePro]

...
- Go for wilderness refueling at a Gas Giant J-2 away on a marked on the map system.
...
- Pay someone with a Large Cargo Bay (tm) to J-4 with the ship inside it. i.e. ship as cargo at 1,000 a ton or whatever, plus staterooms for each crewmember.
(nobody expected that one i betcha.)

Bad Bet!

...
Another option would be a Jump Tender - or sequestering the ship inside a large cargo vessel.

Not covered by the rules, but empty system hexes don't necessarily mean no fuel... in RL, wandering GGs have been discovered (not to mention stellar types not accounted for in system gen - which is not really covered in MgT anyway), not to mention frozen interstellar bodies which most likely exist (and certainly can in Traveller, regardless). ...