Why is the Scoutship air raft open topped?

[l_c_jackson]

Traveller design philosophy question 1 of 2.

Why is the standard Classic Traveller Scoutship air raft open-topped?


Obvious major disadvantages

1. Driver, passengers & cargo are exposed to weather, hostile atmospheres, passing flying animals, stellar and other radiation, possible hostile microbes and any incoming missile fire.

2. It reduces the endurance of the vehicle to the length of time that the driver can remain in a vacc suit.

3. It probably reduces the maximum vehicle speed to that which the driver can tolerate while they remain exposed to the slipstream.


Possible minor advantages

1. Any specimens taken locally can be examined while travelling under planetary atmospheric conditions, rather than being stowed outside a sealed vehicle.

2. The passengers can fire back without opening the vehicle.

3. Lower construction cost.

4. The potential illegal resale value of Imperial Scout Service property is greatly reduced. This might save the Scout Service millions of credits annually in replacing air rafts that have been illegally sold by their detached duty Scout Service operators.


Only the final reason seems strong enough to justify the disadvantages! Can anyone think of a more plausible explanation?

Thanks.

 

[mike wightman]

Reason - so it would look like the air/raft thing Luke Skywalker drives in Star Wars.

 

[Rover]

Girls like convertables.

 

[Vargr]

Because if it was not open-topped it would not be a raft but a car.

 

[Lycanorukke]

So the Vargr don't get yelled at for sticking their head out the window - no windows means no yelling.

 

[Whipsnade]

Why is the standard Classic Traveller Scoutship air raft open-topped?

LC,

It's a deliberate meta-game decision.

Traveller was designed to be different than D&D or the few other RPGs of the day and that difference was much more than subject material being science-fiction instead of fantasy.

Players in Traveller aren't primarily rewarded with levels, hit points, wealth. Instead they're rewarded with in-game knowledge, influence, and wealth. If you look at the other RPGs of the 1970s, that paradigm is all but absent. The only other RPG I know of which follows it is En Garde which just so happens to have been designed by - surprise - GDW.

The air/raft aboard a scout/courier gives the players on-planet mobility but not too much on-planet mobility. The idea is to impose some measure of reality, unlike the presentation of horses in D&D which has been likened to that of motorcycles for as long as D&D has been around.

With an air/raft, the players the benefit of a vehicle which flies, thus ignoring all terrain, and requires rather infrequent "refueling". On the other hand, the air/raft is slow, only reaching 100kph/60mph, is easily subject to the effects of bad weather, has limited lifting capacity of 4 persons/4 tons, and can just reach orbit if handled gingerly and at the cost of several hours per trip. You can see that GDW took care to ensure the air/raft was a method of transportation for the players while not also being a transportation panacea for the players.

By the way, the air/raft is described as usually, not always, being open-topped.

The same book which first presented the air/raft, LBB:3, detailed all of four grav vehicles. The air/raft is one and the grav belt another. The remaining two, the speeder and g-carrier, are just what you want the air/raft to be. They're fast, enclosed, and pressurized. They're also available to the players, available for a price that is.

So, better grav vehicles are available for a price and that's the whole idea. The players get an air/raft for "free" with their scout/courier. If they want anything better, they need to work for it and that's what Traveller is generally all about.


Regards,
Bill

 

[Sturn]

So you can don a vacc suit, drop out of your scout ship in an air/raft modded to look like a retro convertible 1960's Corvette, and blast Radar Rider on the raft's stereo while coming in for a "soft landing" on the world below.


Edit: A.i. watch from about 1:40 through 3:20 here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CuI3sfqQ9n8

 

[shield]

why is the air/raft open topped - simple

lowest bid contracts

Cheers
Shield

 

[Spinward Scout]

Because Scouts have style!



:devil:

 

[Supplement Four]

One hyphenate word for you: rag-tops.

 

[Sturn]

In all seriousness this time.

When thinking of modern examples, the only "open" aircraft I could think of (without going back to biplanes) are helicopters. A.i. I recall every trip I ever took in a UH-1 had the doors wide open with the passengers facing outwards on the edge Why? Well there was sometimes, on overseas deployments, a machinegun mounted in the open doorway. But of course air/rafts normally don't have a gun mount. Even with no gun mounted in the UH-1 in a safe environment, we still flew with the doors open even with the added danger it created of people or things falling out (yes it can happen - I almost fell out over Thailand once when my belt failed and I recall an M60 machingun in another UH-1 being accidentally dropped out the door). I'm not sure exactly why we kept the doors open even when there was no need to shoot out or even train like we were going to shoot out.

For the fun of it? Passengers have a better view? Passengers can shoot out more easily?

 

[the angle]

In all seriousness;

A scout crew is likely to operate in all sorts of atmospheres. The point of enclosing a vehicle is to keep the outside atmosphere out. But unless the atmospheres outside and inside are basically the same, then keeping them separate requires an airlock. An air/raft is too small to have an airlock, so there's no way to keep the outside out and the inside in. Once the enclosure becomes basically useless, it makes a lot of sense to just leave the top off, save the weight, save the mechanical complexity, gain maximum visibility, and wear a protective suit instead of sitting under a roof.

Steve

 

[far-trader]

One hyphenate word for you: rag-tops.

Which iirc was an item in an early Ship's Locker article in JTAS. And was promptly adopted and expanded on by myself to include a removable hardtop option that included life support as a (relatively) cheap upgrade.

 

[Sturn]

In all seriousness;

An air/raft is too small to have an airlock, so there's no way to keep the outside out and the inside in.

Steve

This seems like the best explanation I've heard so far.

 

[far-trader]

Counterpoints...

In all seriousness;

...An air/raft is too small to have an airlock, so there's no way to keep the outside out and the inside in.

However, the air/raft bay can be sealed, pressurized, decontaminated, etc. quite easily. As would similar facilities of other ships and on any world of decent TL dealing with less than shirt sleeve environments. Think "parking garages" and such built with air locks. In clean and out clean, no hassle.

And I'd point out that the speeder and grav-car don't have airlocks either but are sealed and have life support.

Once the enclosure becomes basically useless, it makes a lot of sense to just leave the top off, save the weight, save the mechanical complexity, gain maximum visibility, and wear a protective suit instead of sitting under a roof.

I would argue enclosing the air-raft is far from useless simply because it can't be entered or exited without exposure unless in an airlock itself.

And while I agree with most of the other reasons maximum visibility is not one of them when the option is wearing a protective suit.

A scout crew is likely to operate in all sorts of atmospheres...

Which is a very good point for enclosing the air-raft. Keeping them separate via an airlock is not a requirement. More a useful feature but not suitable for the small size*.

* though I'm pretty sure there's room for, and I have drawn plans showing, a small one person airlock in the back of the 3dton Hurricane (first seen in the MT book with the IISS Survey ship iirc) class enclosed air-raft favoured by the IISS since it's introduction It doubles as a handy enclosed and atmosphere tunable cargo/capture hold. Pricier yes but very useful.

 

[BlackBat242]

so you can don a vacc suit, drop out of your scout ship in an air/raft modded to look like a retro convertible 1960's corvette, and blast radar rider on the raft's stereo while coming in for a "soft landing" on the world below. :d


edit: A.i. Watch from about 1:40 through 3:20 here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cui3sfqq9n8

stuuuurn!!!

 

[Cryton]

Because its essentially a take along "POV", not a subcraft. You use it for exploring those worlds that you encounter that are habitable, Otherwise you just don't bother leaving your ship for any further than you can walk in a vac suit to pick up a few samples.

Merchants carry them so they don't have to pay rental on local transport.

Besides, convertibles have STYLE, and when they fly, they impress the locals.

 

[Icosahedron]

Because it's a flying Jeep.
Go find why Jeeps are open-topped and you'll have your answer.

 

[Sturn]

Because it's a flying Jeep.
Go find why Jeeps are open-topped and you'll have your answer.

But, jeeps don't fly, especially into vacuum.

 

[Dragoner]

Because it's a flying Jeep.
Go find why Jeeps are open-topped and you'll have your answer.

This is my thoughts behind the air-raft as well.