external for larger but smaller might be best to have internal? What does Traveller have, the old Scout Class or like?
Mike On Sat, Jun 9, 2012 at 3:21 AM, Onno Meyer <[email protected]> wrote: > Hello everybody, > > I have finished the last of the 100-ton freighters, and the comments > by David and Johannes got me thinking about bigger ships. > > Containers: > * Internal or external carry? If they are sealed against vacuum, an > external rack may be the easy way to carry them, and to get rapid > turnaround times in port. (There are in-universe reasons why that > might be less important, see below.) > * External carry could be hardpoints, external cradles, or tractor > beams. Hardpoints are 5% of the container mass, cradles are 10%, > tractors are 10% plus power plant. And if you divide the same > volume into multiple smaller hulls, the armor and structural > mass goes up, too. A container ship could pay a hefty mass > penalty, compared to a bulk transport. How bad is it? Only a > few designs will tell ... > * A few large containers would give a tug plus barge look-and-feel. > As an extreme, the ship could haul a single container, larger > than itself. > * At "low interstellar" TLs (TL10-12), external containers could > make surface landings impossible. On the other hand, it could > be a good idea to separate surface-to-orbit and orbit-to-FTL > craft, anyway. At 0.2 parsec per day, it could take months or > years in hyperspace, and why haul big STL engines along for > that ride? > * By the way, such a time scale makes it pointless to save a few > hours in port. After months in hyperspace, the crew deserves > some shore leave, the ship might require maintenance, etc. And > for the GM, that gives plenty of adventure hooks. > * On the other hand, cargo in sealed containers with standard > shapes has advantages even if it is carried internally. Think > cargo containers for aircraft vs. containers on (wet) ships. > > Crew Size: > * For game reasons, I prefer ships were the players are the > entire crew. The 3E rules as written give big and expensive > ships high maintenance requirements, but that could be > solved by a house rule, by simple-minded robots, by > microbot swarms, or at higher TLs by living metal. > * A small crew in a large ship gives adventure hooks, too. The > Nostromo in Alien is one option, the Destiny of Stargate > Universe is another -- a big ship could have sections that > haven't been entered for decades, centuries, millenia. > > Family Ships: > * Johannes mentioned the idea of families on board, with plots > based on the dynamics within the crew. Who needs an Alien if > the Old Man is just as scary, and refuses to retire in peace? > * When we talk about families, does that mean a generation ship > where people are born, raised, live and die? It doesn't have > to be a ship which spends centuries between ports, as in the > usual sublight generation ship meme. You could have a > situation where voyages take a year or two, and a 'triangle > trade' takes a decade. Would you leave your family at home > that long? Cf Cherryh's merchanters in the Alliance/Union > universe. > * How large is the crew? If each ship is one closed society, you > need a decent gene pool. If different ships meet and there is > an exogamy tradition, each individual crew can be smaller. > * What is the minimum size to retain technology? Are the kids > taught by apprenticeship, or is there a college/university? > How many students, how many faculty? > * There could be family ships where young professionals are hired > at a port and live on a ship until retirement. Children would > be born, and raised on the ship until they go to a boarding > school college in port. The ship might have a primary school > teacher or two, and crew take turns at teaching middle school > classes (the astrogator teaches maths, the engineer teaches > physics, the commo officer teaches languages, etc.). > * Is the ship trading to support the family, or does it carry > the family to allow trade? Cf the Stargate Atlantis episode > Travelers. > > I think there are enough permutations to come up with a few > interesting ships. > > - The crew could be small and in hibernation during the > flight (Alien), large enough to raise kids, but still > integrated with the larger galactic society, or an > encosed, isolated society. > - A few big containers carried externally, many smaller > containers carried externally, smaller containers > carried internally, or breakbulk cargo internally. > - The ship could be easily capable of surface landings (TL13+) > or dependent on shuttles (TL11-). > - Armed or unarmed? If it is technically a sovereign nation, > the ship has to take care of itself. By contrast, if the > ship is registered on a planet, the government could take > a dim view on civilian armed starships. > > Any suggestions? > > Regards, > Onno > > PS -- I presume you recognized the Light Transport Mk.III. > Any predictions what I'll do for Mk.VI and Mk.V? :-) > _______________________________________________ > GurpsNet-L mailing list <[email protected]> > http://mail.sjgames.com/mailman/listinfo/gurpsnet-l > -- http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Poetry-L/ http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Adulthumor-L/ http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Abrigon-World/ _______________________________________________ GurpsNet-L mailing list <[email protected]> http://mail.sjgames.com/mailman/listinfo/gurpsnet-l
