Yet another Free Trader deckplan

[mr31337]

Design Checklist:

• Follows the lines of Andrew Boulton’s incredible illustrations and artwork. (I regret having to make the bow slightly 'fatter')
  Total displacement as close as possible to 200 tons.
  Mongoose design (costs corrected)
  Include Air/Raft (a nod to CT)
  Fire control tonnage integrated onto bridge (you either love it or hate it)
  Horizontal low berths (double bunks)
  Avoid unnecessary passageways
  Practical spaces for roleplay
  Easily upgrades (plenty of space for bigger drives, power plant & sensors etc)

Created as something of a tribute to the late-great Andrew Boulton, I only wish I could do his artwork justice. I'll be using these plans in my forthcoming PBP campaign over at Obsidian Portal.
Credit: Thanks to Sturn for inspiration and AutoRealm symbols.




EDIT: Images updated.

[dragoner]

Very nice.

[Hopeless]

Much obliged, would it be too much to ask what font was used for the specification bit?

[Jak Nazryth]

I'm just glad you can access the passenger section from some place other than the engine room as in the original CT deck plan. One other pesky thorn I still have with virtually ALL Traveller deck plans is the over-use of floor/ceiling hatches. IMO your deck plan would be even better with actual stairs or at the very least a lift dedicated to vertical circulation. Currently the only way to access the passenger areas is through a hole in the floor via ladder. lol. And it's in the very center of the common space. Floor/ceiling hatches should be emergency / back-up access between decks, or in utility access spaces. I would suggest simply adding a small lift in the lower left hand corner of the deck 1 common space connecting to the common space above (just as you enter from the main airlock-is that a plant in the corner? Same place as the plant is located...) This would allow passengers to go directly up to their state rooms and commons space as soon as they enter the ship. You can place the hatch beside the lift in case of complete power failure. Just a suggestion. Otherwise I like your plan.
Jak

[mr31337]

Much obliged, would it be too much to ask what font was used for the specification bit?

I nearly put everything in a vilani font! That font is actually "eras itc medium", which I think is a free font very similar to optima.

[mr31337]

I'm just glad you can access the passenger section from some place other than the engine room as in the original CT deck plan. One other pesky thorn I still have with virtually ALL Traveller deck plans is the over-use of floor/ceiling hatches. IMO your deck plan would be even better with actual stairs or at the very least a lift dedicated to vertical circulation. Currently the only way to access the passenger areas is through a hole in the floor via ladder. lol. And it's in the very center of the common space. Floor/ceiling hatches should be emergency / back-up access between decks, or in utility access spaces. I would suggest simply adding a small lift in the lower left hand corner of the deck 1 common space connecting to the common space above (just as you enter from the main airlock-is that a plant in the corner? Same place as the plant is located...) This would allow passengers to go directly up to their state rooms and commons space as soon as they enter the ship. You can place the hatch beside the lift in case of complete power failure. Just a suggestion. Otherwise I like your plan.
Jak

Uhm, yeah, you're very probably right. In the future they caan make a jump drive, can make a gravitic drive, they have advanced computers, but can't manage a lift between floors. I might make a revision with a lift and less 'plants'.

EDIT: I think I'll keep the hatch between the enginering sections. Old school baby.

2nd EDIT: Actually, where you suggest won't work, a lift where you suggest would put you outside the ship when you go up. I'll have to think on it a bit more.

[Captain Jonah]

You could always replace the current hatch with a spiral staircase, this could then be sealed with an iris level with the upper deck

Or put the staircase in so that it runs alongside the wall by the ships locker, start it just to the right of the hatch and have it turn 90 degrees and come up where the right forward plant thing is on the passenger deck.

Of course with grav plates or fields ladders and shafts can be quick and easy to use by putting them outside of the local G field. You will need to fit padding and cushions at the top of the ladder to deal with all those groundsiders who jump up the ladder shaft with too much force

[Sturn]

Thanks for the recognition on the AutoRealm symbols. I'm glad they are being used!

One suggestion. If you zoom WAY in to the screen while using AutoRealm before saving to a JPEG, you will get a much better resolution. It is a pain in the arse to do, but you can zoom in to perhaps just a room, then experiment with doubling, tripling, even quadrupling or more the resolution (a screen pops up when saving) to ensure you get all of the ship exported. This process, while a pain, will make the final graphic image be much more crisper. Example: http://www.ourstead.com/trav/shipyard/seeker/seeker.htm

[Greylond]

Hatches and other "doorways" that can be sealed are used for compartmentalization. If you have a fire or hull breach then you need to be able to seal off as much of the ship as possible. So, the suggestion of stairs with a Iris valve at the top would be a good idea. Open stairs that go between decks and/or sections would be a dangerous design. The bonus of using Iris Valves are that they can normally be shut by remote but a hatch might not be if it is manually operated. For areas that passengers are going to be using, I can see easy access because you won't always have passengers who are experienced space travellers but for crew areas any of the normal hatches/iris valves would be seen as normal ship design. Experience crew might not even think too much about it.

[F33D]

Nice design.

Stolen (with credit)

[mr31337]

Hatches edited, check first post.

I've moved the forward hatch to the right (that's starboard to you matey) so it isn't right in the middle of the common areas. I'm considering this to be something like spiral stairs with a hatch of some type. You are welcome to imagine it to be anything you like.

When I overlay the external image with the image below it stands fair comparison (except for the fatter bow as noted).

[mr31337]

Thanks for the recognition on the AutoRealm symbols. I'm glad they are being used!

One suggestion. If you zoom WAY in to the screen while using AutoRealm before saving to a JPEG, you will get a much better resolution. It is a pain in the arse to do, but you can zoom in to perhaps just a room, then experiment with doubling, tripling, even quadrupling or more the resolution (a screen pops up when saving) to ensure you get all of the ship exported. This process, while a pain, will make the final graphic image be much more crisper. Example: http://www.ourstead.com/trav/shipyard/seeker/seeker.htm

I'm finding AutoRealm to be very frustrating when it comes to exporting. The only way I seem to be able to do what you're suggesting is if I copy one deck at a time into to a new project, which is a right kerfuffle, if I don't do that it seems to crop the image or lower the resolution. When I've got more time I will play with it some more and see if Ican get a higher quality image.

I really like what you've done with the seeker. Very nice. I was greatly inspired by your own free trader deckplan, but I had very slightly different criteria.

[mr31337]

First post updated.
I followed Sturn's kind advice in this thread and banged out the images in a higher resolution. Added a lateral (external) view and made some minor tweaks.