2300AD Starship Design
- Thread starter Colin
- Start date
Since stutterwarp ships don't use reaction drives as much (normally only for matching vectors between origin and destination, and even then they use gravity braking to bleed off most of it, IIRC), their mass won't vary as much as Jump ships or normal reaction M-Drives. They also don't have the large volumes of LHyd that other ships do, so their density will be pretty much constant regardless of design (unless they have large unladen cargo holds).
You should be right to assign an average unladen mass based on non-cargo volume (perhaps 5 tonnes per dTon?) and then calculate the actual tonnage of cargo.
You should be right to assign an average unladen mass based on non-cargo volume (perhaps 5 tonnes per dTon?) and then calculate the actual tonnage of cargo.
Lord High Munchkin
Mongoose
A thing to consider is that 2300AD design rules should be capable of designing sizes down to mines and missiles too (as in the old "official" magazine articles).
Colin
Mongoose
All new, though 2300AD missiles fall roughly into the size category for a High Guard torpedo. Stutterwarp-driven, typically either with a mounted laser or particle beam (drone fighter) or a bomb-pumped warhead. 2300AD missiles are ship killers. One is something to be afraid of, a volley should be terrifying.
2300AD missiles are actually remote-control controlled drones, with an operator back on the ship.
2300AD missiles are actually remote-control controlled drones, with an operator back on the ship.
Colin said:
Should be somewhat cheaper than the HG version. (There was something that irked me about torpedoes which I can't remember offhand; it was either space requirements or expense. I suppose I should look it up.)
I would suggest that they also have a drone brain, very simple but able to go after the target if control is cut off for some reason like the launching ship being turned into Kafer-blown dust.
That's right. I'd forgotten that 2300AD missiles had to be stutterwarp capable, though you could still use the deadfall ortillery concept from High Guard (which will work the same regardless of how the ships move FTL).
One thing that would have to be accounted for if using normal Traveller to game 2300AD ship combat is the fact that with FTL pseudospeed you'll have issues with detection lag. The normal Trav rules (any era) assume objects are travelling much, much slower than light. With stutterwarp, you'll still detect where the target was, but between detection and firing it has much greater scope to not be there by the time the lasers arrive. In effect, you'll need to redefine the firing range distances at the very least, and probably impose heftier range penalties as well. IIRC this is why 2300AD ship combat is almost all done with missiles and drones - you have to get pretty close to the target to have any hope of hitting it.
One thing that would have to be accounted for if using normal Traveller to game 2300AD ship combat is the fact that with FTL pseudospeed you'll have issues with detection lag. The normal Trav rules (any era) assume objects are travelling much, much slower than light. With stutterwarp, you'll still detect where the target was, but between detection and firing it has much greater scope to not be there by the time the lasers arrive. In effect, you'll need to redefine the firing range distances at the very least, and probably impose heftier range penalties as well. IIRC this is why 2300AD ship combat is almost all done with missiles and drones - you have to get pretty close to the target to have any hope of hitting it.
Another thought - I never owned the original, so everything I know about 2300 is based on the old Challenge magazine. In one of those old issues there was a great article about how a stutterwarp ship would appear to an outside observer. I think a similar description really needs to be in the core book somewhere, as it really drives home the difference of stutterwarp compared to how FTL works in most books/games/movies.
Lord High Munchkin
Mongoose
There was an excellent article on ship engineering, if I remember... could be the same.
IIRC radiators for the waste heat were a factor in ship design. A vacuum is a great insulator, so ships needed a hefty radiator system. Any thoughts on the fuel efficiency of fuel cells, MHD turbines, and any other power sources that I can't remember atm? I would think there would be some kind of regenerative system to extend range, like solar cells used to crack water and compress the gases into liquid form during the discharge of the engine.
I always thought it interesting how small the power requirements were for the stutterwarp drive. I will try to find my old NAM and reread it.
Looking forward to what you come up with!
I always thought it interesting how small the power requirements were for the stutterwarp drive. I will try to find my old NAM and reread it.
Looking forward to what you come up with!
