200t J2 Econo-Trader Deck plans

[DFW]

I finally drew up deck plans for a ship I posted earlier. I combined the data sheet & plans into a zip file.

Although, not as nice as professional plans you'd find in an expensive paid product, they should be usable nonetheless. I only had an hour and MS Paint to work with. Hope you find them useful.

http://www.4shared.com/file/oNJh8wLM/Econo-Trader_J2.html

 

[rust]

I like it, it looks very good - better than many deck plans I have seen in
commercial products. I especially like the bridge in the rear of the ship,
near the engine room, it makes a lot more sense than the all too com-
mon "bow glass house bridge".

 

[DFW]

I like it, it looks very good - better than many deck plans I have seen in
commercial products. I especially like the bridge in the rear of the ship,
near the engine room, it makes a lot more sense than the all too com-
mon "bow glass house bridge".

Thanks for the compliment. I decided to try that bridge arrangement based on form following function and technology rather than movie/cinematic lines. Also, keeps the "Crew" accessible portion of the ship separate from the passengers for security purposes.

 

[rust]

I decided to try that bridge arrangement based on form following function and technology rather than movie/cinematic lines. Also, keeps the "Crew" accessible portion of the ship separate from the passengers for security purposes.

Yep, and the poor engineer does no longer have to run the entire length
of the ship between bridge and engine room each time there is a problem,
spending most of his shift neither here nor there on a bad day.

 

[BFalcon]

Agreed - although a refinement might be to allow the passengers to have something to look out at... and those "glasshouse" bridges DO have the advantage that you can see out even when the power systems or the cameras are down...

Looks good tbh - I thought it had been done on Cosmographer 3 when I saw the icons for the engines and so on... using MS Paint is impressive.

One comment though - with up to 4 crew going at once, given the 3 stations + Engineering and either hotbunking or using a pair of guest staterooms, isn't one emergency low-berth asking for a punch-up or worse in the case of a terminal crisis?

I had to chuckle when I thought that the cargo could end up more expensive than the ship itself given the large cargo hold, zero armour and the low price though... pirates would love to see that ship enter their system... the kinda situation a GM loves and the players cringe at, I think.

Verdict: Love it!

(Just thought - might be nice, cosmetically, to square off the cargo hold and add a couple of stub-wings for the fuel removed, to allow a large cargo-door/ramp... would give that ship an excellent cargo turn-around time and capacity)

 

[BFalcon]

I decided to try that bridge arrangement based on form following function and technology rather than movie/cinematic lines. Also, keeps the "Crew" accessible portion of the ship separate from the passengers for security purposes.

Yep, and the poor engineer does no longer have to run the entire length
of the ship between bridge and engine room each time there is a problem,
spending most of his shift neither here nor there on a bad day.

DFW: Yeah, noticed that - nice touch - gives it a "passenger liner" look.

Rust: Yeah, or sitting there looking at pretty much nothing while the crew is stood to... and being alone while he does it - while the rest of the crew are happily being sociable in the lounge which seems, often, to be near the bridge...

 

[DFW]

Agreed - although a refinement might be to allow the passengers to have something to look out at... and those "glasshouse" bridges DO have the advantage that you can see out even when the power systems or the cameras are down...

Well, I figure that if your core systems are down you are in a world of hurt and passengers are readying to evac.

Looks good tbh - I thought it had been done on Cosmographer 3 when I saw the icons for the engines and so on... using MS Paint is impressive.

Thanks. I wish I had that and knew how to use it. I search around for components and do copy/paste.

One comment though - with up to 4 crew going at once, given the 3 stations + Engineering and either hotbunking or using a pair of guest staterooms, isn't one emergency low-berth asking for a punch-up or worse in the case of a terminal crisis?

I think the E-low Berth holds up to 4.

I had to chuckle when I thought that the cargo could end up more expensive than the ship itself given the large cargo hold, zero armour and the low price though... pirates would love to see that ship enter their system... the kinda situation a GM loves and the players cringe at, I think.

Verdict: Love it!

(Just thought - might be nice, cosmetically, to square off the cargo hold and add a couple of stub-wings for the fuel removed, to allow a large cargo-door/ramp... would give that ship an excellent cargo turn-around time and capacity)

Well, 4 armor doesn't give much over 0 points against a serious pirate. Maybe one combat turn at most. The cargo ramp is in the bow. The door/ramp is very thick and has fuel in it. As far as wings, they don't really have a usable function except if you have a reaction drive ship and need to glide to a landing to save reaction fuel.

I'm glad you like it though and hope you find uses for it in your game. It is a cheap J-2 that players can purchase with shares for ~ the same price as a J-1 Free Trader. Add a couple of used turrets from the scrap yard...

 

[BFalcon]

Well, I figure that if your core systems are down you are in a world of hurt and passengers are readying to evac.

Hehe assuming you've got somewhere to evac them to...

Thanks. I wish I had that and knew how to use it. I search around for components and do copy/paste.

Thanks - I've got it - just wish I knew how to use it...

Sometimes the easier solutions are the older ones you know. I've pretty much gone back to using CorelDraw! select edition and have made up the old-school icons in that.

I think the E-low Berth holds up to 4.

Ah ok - wasn't sure.

Well, 4 armor doesn't give much over 0 points against a serious pirate. Maybe one combat turn at most. The cargo ramp is in the bow. The door/ramp is very thick and has fuel in it. As far as wings, they don't really have a usable function except if you have a reaction drive ship and need to glide to a landing to save reaction fuel.

I've yet to find a Traveller group up here in Cumbria, so not had a chance to play on either side of the GM shield - I have the GDW boxed set, but wasn't going to let any players near it. As a result, I'm still working out how effective things are, like weapons and armour (important if you don't want to kill off players by accident - I prefer to let them kill themselves through carelessness wherever possible). :twisted:

I actually thought about the ramp having fuel in afterwards, so good call.

I'm glad you like it though and hope you find uses for it in your game. It is a cheap J-2 that players can purchase with shares for ~ the same price as a J-1 Free Trader. Add a couple of used turrets from the scrap yard...

J-1? Is that another of yours or have I overlooked a FT design somewhere? I went on a spending spree and picked up most of the books a while back, but am still learning what's hidden where.

 

[DFW]

Hehe assuming you've got somewhere to evac them to...

I always liked the idea of passengers floating through space in rescue bubbles. :twisted:

As a result, I'm still working out how effective things are, like weapons and armour (important if you don't want to kill off players by accident - I prefer to let them kill themselves through carelessness wherever possible). :twisted:

There's no saving throw vs. stupidity. :lol:

J-1? Is that another of yours or have I overlooked a FT design somewhere? I went on a spending spree and picked up most of the books a while back, but am still learning what's hidden where.

J-1 refers to how many parsecs the ship can travel in one go. I used it as short hand for the J-1 "Free Trader". A ubiquitous cargo ship found in just about every edition of Traveller.

 

[Mithras]

Thanks - I've got it - just wish I knew how to use it...

Me too! I've become quite adept at producing some nice looking MS Paint images as a result!

 

[BFalcon]

J-1 refers to how many parsecs the ship can travel in one go. I used it as short hand for the J-1 "Free Trader". A ubiquitous cargo ship found in just about every edition of Traveller.

Right gotcha - I thought you meant a specific ship name, like the "S-Class" scout etc...

And yeah, I know it - even got a mini of the J1-FT as you call it.

 

[DFW]

And yeah, I know it - even got a mini of the J1-FT as you call it.

Were'd you buy that at?

 

[BFalcon]

DFW: ebay - it's made by Ad Astra games - if you look for their site, they also do the Pinnace and the Scout, as well as the Beowulf Free Trader. I'll not link to their site out of respect to MGP though, so you'll need to google it yourself. They're expensive though - around $17.95 each (that's over a tenner in UK money) with 2 per pack for the Pinnace I think. They also do decals for the Imperium and Zhodani I noticed.

 

[DFW]

DFW: ebay - it's made by Ad Astra games - if you look for their site, they also do the Pinnace and the Scout, as well as the Beowulf Free Trader. I'll not link to their site out of respect to MGP though, so you'll need to google it yourself. They're expensive though - around $17.95 each (that's over a tenner in UK money) with 2 per pack for the Pinnace I think. They also do decals for the Imperium and Zhodani I noticed.

thanks

 

[FreeTrav]

DFW, if you'll send me the following, I think I might have a place for it in Freelance Traveller...

1. The ship stat sheet
2. The deckplans. I might even be able to convert them to a vector format.
3. Color text for the ship, describing the why, how, where, quirks, etc.

 

[DFW]

DFW, if you'll send me the following, I think I might have a place for it in Freelance Traveller...

1. The ship stat sheet
2. The deckplans. I might even be able to convert them to a vector format.
3. Color text for the ship, describing the why, how, where, quirks, etc.

The "color" text is written at the bottom of the data sheet. Do you want the original .bmp deck plan file that I converted into pdf? Also, do you want the .ods file that is the data sheet before being pdf?

 

[FreeTrav]

DFW, if you'll send me the following, I think I might have a place for it in Freelance Traveller...

1. The ship stat sheet
2. The deckplans. I might even be able to convert them to a vector format.
3. Color text for the ship, describing the why, how, where, quirks, etc.

The "color" text is written at the bottom of the data sheet. Do you want the original .bmp deck plan file that I converted into pdf? Also, do you want the .ods file that is the data sheet before being pdf?

The ODS and the BMP would be better than the PDF; it's ... awkward ... to extract stuff from PDFs.

The only other thing I'd need would be a full name for credit in the magazine.

Use either editor@freelancetraveller.com or submissions@freelancetraveller.com; both get to me.

 

[77thPatron]

This is a great, thanks for the deckplans!

Agreed - although a refinement might be to allow the passengers to have something to look out at... and those "glasshouse" bridges DO have the advantage that you can see out even when the power systems or the cameras are down...

I was thinking that a cheap periscope vision block (more like a tank than a submarine.. but you get the idea) would do the trick for this. -2 DM to piloting rolls if you have to use it, but it's there to meet Imperial safety standards.

 

[DFW]

This is a great, thanks for the deckplans!

I was thinking that a cheap periscope vision block (more like a tank than a submarine.. but you get the idea) would do the trick for this. -2 DM to piloting rolls if you have to use it, but it's there to meet Imperial safety standards.

Your welcome.

In reality, there isn't anything to see in space that a pilot needs to look at or, that would really help. Just an advanced inertial guidance will allow you to pilot all over a system. If you ever lose enough systems that you have to have a window, you waited too long to abandon ship.

 

[rust]

I was thinking that a cheap periscope vision block (more like a tank than a submarine.. but you get the idea) would do the trick for this. -2 DM to piloting rolls if you have to use it, but it's there to meet Imperial safety standards.

I find it difficult to imagine a situation where all sensors are down and can-
not be repaired or replaced, but the crew is still able to pilot the ship. In
the case of a complete power failure, the drives and other vital systems
should be down, too, and a battle damage which destroys all sensors of
the ship beyond repair or replacement would probably not leave much
ship to pilot. Besides, if someone really attempted to pilot an object of the
mass and speed of a Traveller starship near anything bright and near
enough that he can see it in space without sensors, I would prefer not to
be on board of that ship.