bromdenlong
SOC-12
small traders all
Far Trader, Fat Trader (Subsidized Merchant), and Triad class merchant vessel.
Far Trader, Fat Trader (Subsidized Merchant), and Triad class merchant vessel.
Your Favorite Starship (2016 version)
- Thread starter robject
- Start date
In my campaign
The players have a TL 9 Zhodani Free Trader (MN-09). I use the A2 Free Trader specs from One Small Step and the Fanzhienz deck plans from ACS, with some changes - There is a hydroponic lab replacing 3 state rooms in the stern, near the engines. Another goodie is that since the ship is TL 9, there is no artificial gravity on the ship.
In the Verge Sector.
The good news is the ship was free; in addition, they do have a complete set of user/repair manuals (10/30/50/70 - User support, direct support, general support, & depot level support).
The bad news is the ship is theoretically quite old (It was acquired from a Prize Court at the end of the 3rd Frontier War - the young noble that captained the prize crew kept it after the war and took it home to Tiawan. The family maintained it until recently). The other little bit of bad news is that those user/repair manuals are all machine translated from Zdetl to Ganglic. Any time a new part is needed, there is a task roll is made:
To correctly input information into a 3D printer to manufacture a part.
Difficult, Computer, Engineering, 6 hr (uncertain)
Referee: Cautious Attempt lowers difficulty level to Routine. No Truth - the part doesn't fit. (wrong unit of measurement used) Some Truth: The part fits, but is defective in some way. Roll on the Mishap Table each time the subsystem is used. Total Truth: Part works normally. Uncertain is used because the part may not fail immediately.
The players have a TL 9 Zhodani Free Trader (MN-09). I use the A2 Free Trader specs from One Small Step and the Fanzhienz deck plans from ACS, with some changes - There is a hydroponic lab replacing 3 state rooms in the stern, near the engines. Another goodie is that since the ship is TL 9, there is no artificial gravity on the ship.
In the Verge Sector.
The good news is the ship was free; in addition, they do have a complete set of user/repair manuals (10/30/50/70 - User support, direct support, general support, & depot level support).
The bad news is the ship is theoretically quite old (It was acquired from a Prize Court at the end of the 3rd Frontier War - the young noble that captained the prize crew kept it after the war and took it home to Tiawan. The family maintained it until recently). The other little bit of bad news is that those user/repair manuals are all machine translated from Zdetl to Ganglic. Any time a new part is needed, there is a task roll is made:
To correctly input information into a 3D printer to manufacture a part.
Difficult, Computer, Engineering, 6 hr (uncertain)
Referee: Cautious Attempt lowers difficulty level to Routine. No Truth - the part doesn't fit. (wrong unit of measurement used) Some Truth: The part fits, but is defective in some way. Roll on the Mishap Table each time the subsystem is used. Total Truth: Part works normally. Uncertain is used because the part may not fail immediately.
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Somewhat prosaic, but I did a stretched 'A300' class trader IMTU. This is essentially a stretched free trader hull1 with J2 and M2 or M3, depending on the variant.
It also had (as did the A/A2 IMTU) tactical transport variants that were essentially milspec freight ships (think something like a spacegoing version of a C17). These had uprated electronics (model/3 or model/4 computer) and were often armed. Occasionally surplus ones would get into the hands of riffraff like pirates or (gods forbid) adventurers.
1 It could be an A2 but I never really liked the look of the A2 in Traders and Gunboats.
It also had (as did the A/A2 IMTU) tactical transport variants that were essentially milspec freight ships (think something like a spacegoing version of a C17). These had uprated electronics (model/3 or model/4 computer) and were often armed. Occasionally surplus ones would get into the hands of riffraff like pirates or (gods forbid) adventurers.
1 It could be an A2 but I never really liked the look of the A2 in Traders and Gunboats.
IMTU I had a couple of common models of 'export' grade avionics packages for light warships like patrol craft or system defence boats. These were (relatively) cheap and easy to maintain and were intended for light warships in remote areas. Essentially these would be equivalent to a mid-size computer in the model/3 to model/5 range, depending on the tech level.
As they used standard protocols and interfaces, some bright spark discovered that it was possible to retrofit them to all sorts of craft such as free traders. Being standard, they were also second-sourced through a number of third parties, some of whom were domiciled in regions with rather loosely enforced arms export laws. In addition, a fair volume of refurbished examples were available from parts taken from scrapped ships.
Now, you could upgrade your (relatively) ordinary merchant vessel with high-spec sensors, avionics, ECM and fire control for a significant, but manageable sum of money. While the ship is no faster or more heavily armed, the electronics mean it packs quite a wallop as you get significant hit and evasion bonuses.
In addition, the mundane fit of a couple of single pulse lasers doesn't draw attention to the ship, unless somebody recognises the distinctive profile of the wind shields protecting the fire control radars.
baktegon
SOC-12
This is great! I'm definitely going to incorporate this kind of thing in when they arrive at the shipyards.
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