Yacht: Jump-1 or Jump-4 ?

[Ran Targas]

When it comes to corporate/aristocratic transports, I take my lead from real world corporate aircraft and Horace Bury's yacht in "The Gripping Hand". Most are spacious by military or normal commercial standards, capable of receiving guests in the utmost luxury, and in the case of Horace Bury, very capable of defending itself when necessary.

A detail I think Trav yacht designs have overlooked is these craft should be ostentatious by their very nature (i.e. lots of space wasted to enlarged cabins, closets the size of standard staterooms, lounges, libraries, offices, a board room, entertainment centers, world class kitchen, storerooms for exotic fare, medical facilities, etc., and room for a small crew). Sure, the ship itself would be an expensive purchase (no self absorbed aristocrat or corporate big wig wants to have his name associated with a garbage scow), but the big bucks go into outfitting the interior.

I smirk when I read descriptions having small tonnage yachts with huge numbers of staterooms; these things aren't buses, they're limos! A really wealthy buyer may only want two or three guest cabins and the rest devoted to his/her own guilty pleasures.

 

[far-trader]

Well as to a Yacht description having huge numbers of staterooms, such as my own designs, to me that's just a bookkeeping measure. Saying my Ducal class Yacht has 24 passenger staterooms and 3 stewards to meet high passage standards doesn't mean I expect there to be 24 actual passengers. In fact I expect it to typically mean a Ducal suite of 6 staterooms (just a measure) and of the 3 stewards one is almost entirely at the Dukes beck and call. Of the remaining 18 staterooms some will be smaller suites, perhaps a 4 stateroom suite for the Dukes travelling companion and a few more 2 stateroom suites for guests. The rest will be for the guests aides, probably 1 to a stateroom, or doubled up if needed.

As for other luxuries, some of that will come out of the common spaces from the staterooms and some, in my designs, out of the custom space left for such purposes. The one thing that bugs me about Traveller Yachts is the idea of a standard design. A true Yacht is as you say a luxury item and imo a one off design, no standard discount, which price premium helps reflect the higher luxury of the fittings too. That's my take on it

 

[aramis]

FT: When you look at the yachts in, say, Seward's SBH. You see basically 5 designs for the 30', 3-4 80', and a few larger craft. Yachts can be standardized.

An archducal yacht? probably not; But by the same token, an archducal yacht is probably seldom used by the archduke, either; he's got space aboard flagships and fast couriers when on the job, and vacation time is rare, and likely to be, like Charles PoW, a major media blitz.

Also, there is nothing in canon that clearly states even a stipend for the planetary nobles (save perhaps something in GT); My interpretation was that the Count takes his share, and spends most of it on a cluster navy, and other governmental agencies he's established. The privy purse is probably well rationed.


Likewise, it is likely that most of a Dukes time is NOT spent on progress. He has to be there to actually make decisions. He has to be reachable. So smaller suites (even like the ones I posted) are probably quite luxurious by comparison.

A good example/model of this effect is seen in the vorkosiverse. Even as the emperor's hand, Miles gets small rooms, despite being both Noble and superior to all agencies in the Barrayaran Imperium.

Liekwise, the lighters in Dune: it's not terribly big, just enough to be comfortable.

 

[far-trader]

30' seems a little small for a yacht to my mind but yeah I agree they can be somewhat standardized. In fact my old CT models are to a large degree (basic crew, standard drives, minimal* passenger facilities, etc.) but they all have a degree of space and budget left in the design for personal touches. That is what really makes them unique custom ships.

I guess I should stop checking the notes for errata and just post mine for feedback...

You can find it here:

Journeyman Design Bureau Noble Yachts