A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Logistics Ship

[Terry Mixon]

Okay, I got myself into trouble working on something that really isn't covered by the rules and wanted to get some opinions. I created the one-million-ton Warmonger as a battle tender and then decided that it would make a fabulous logistics ship as well. After all, it's designed to carry sixteen fifty-thousand-ton battle riders and so it could just is simply carry sixteen cargo/fuel pods. Only there is no such thing that I can find. That being the case, I had to build my own and that's where I ran into trouble.

First of all, everything has to have power according to the rules. Even a pod carrying nothing but fuel. That makes me squint a little bit, but I suppose I can accept it. For a fifty-thousand-ton pod, that is ten thousand power points. It goes a little higher once I add in an UNREP system to rapidly load and unload fuel and cargo. According to the rules, if I remove the artificial gravity then I cut the power usage in half. Sounds good to me.

The question is, with the UNREP system function without artificial gravity? My gut says that it would and that I could get away with this to save a little bit of money and power but I'm curious what everyone else thinks.

The other little bit of trouble I ran into was the fact that it didn't make any sense to increase the power on the Warmonger for pods that may or may not carry. So, that means the pods need to provide their own power. If I was counting them just as modules then the ship could provide the power through the connection since there is an airlock on the pod and it could connect up with the ship where the clamp holds it in place.

That made me start thinking about whether I needed to house crew aboard the pod or just have them come aboard service the power plant as needed. It seems like a no-brainer that the ship could have an airlock built into the docking clamp that would meet with an airlock on the pod to allow personnel access back and forth so I wouldn't have to put housing aboard the pod and keep people there. Does that sound reasonable?

According to the book, if I use the tonnage of the Warmonger and pod combined to calculate the necessary crew, I need three engineers and thirty mechanics. If I have to house them on site, that cause a lot of trouble and they be isolated from the rest of the ship. I'd truly like to avoid that if possible.

 

[Arkathan]

At any tech level that has Fusion+, the plumbing can be gravitic. The basic hull power and the unrep system cover moving things around.

 

[agentwigggles]

"One time, I took, a shit so fudge thick, it took 3g to move it."

 

[Terry Mixon]

"One time, I took, a shit so fudge thick, it took 3g to move it."

"Shoulda brought a lifter plate. Those things can move anything."

 

[J. L. Brown]

Okay, I got myself into trouble working on something that really isn't covered by the rules and wanted to get some opinions. I created the one-million-ton Warmonger as a battle tender and then decided that it would make a fabulous logistics ship as well. After all, it's designed to carry sixteen fifty-thousand-ton battle riders and so it could just is simply carry sixteen cargo/fuel pods. Only there is no such thing that I can find. That being the case, I had to build my own and that's where I ran into trouble.

First of all, everything has to have power according to the rules. Even a pod carrying nothing but fuel. That makes me squint a little bit, but I suppose I can accept it. For a fifty-thousand-ton pod, that is ten thousand power points. It goes a little higher once I add in an UNREP system to rapidly load and unload fuel and cargo. According to the rules, if I remove the artificial gravity then I cut the power usage in half. Sounds good to me.

The question is, with the UNREP system function without artificial gravity? My gut says that it would and that I could get away with this to save a little bit of money and power but I'm curious what everyone else thinks.

The other little bit of trouble I ran into was the fact that it didn't make any sense to increase the power on the Warmonger for pods that may or may not carry. So, that means the pods need to provide their own power. If I was counting them just as modules then the ship could provide the power through the connection since there is an airlock on the pod and it could connect up with the ship where the clamp holds it in place.

That made me start thinking about whether I needed to house crew aboard the pod or just have them come aboard service the power plant as needed. It seems like a no-brainer that the ship could have an airlock built into the docking clamp that would meet with an airlock on the pod to allow personnel access back and forth so I wouldn't have to put housing aboard the pod and keep people there. Does that sound reasonable?

According to the book, if I use the tonnage of the Warmonger and pod combined to calculate the necessary crew, I need three engineers and thirty mechanics. If I have to house them on site, that cause a lot of trouble and they be isolated from the rest of the ship. I'd truly like to avoid that if possible.

Try designing the fuel pods as battle-rider/drop-tanks. When the WarMonger is ready to jump out, it uses all the fuel for the jump from attached pods which then detach & fly back for refueling in the departure system. Since they have M-drives, they can easily get to minimum-safe-distance from the jump bubble.

Oh, and if that becomes standard operating procedure for the WarMonger, give it a bigger J-drive.

(This is why I disallow drop tanks -- they change the universe in extremely cheesy ways)

 

[Condottiere]

If you have a large enough tunnel, you can drive a train through it.

In relative terms, power generation is cheap, so if a cargo pod is large enough to justify it, it can have it's own power plant.

 

[phavoc]

It's simple enough to simply calculate what the cost of a 50,000 dton hull is and you have the cost of your pod, though that's making it a wee bit more expensive than it should be (potentially) as a pod doesn't need all the bells and whistles of a true starship.

I don't recall if the books provide a cost for just a hull w/o all the bells and whistles (airlocks, life support, sensors, electronics, etc).

 

[Terry Mixon]

It's simple enough to simply calculate what the cost of a 50,000 dton hull is and you have the cost of your pod, though that's making it a wee bit more expensive than it should be (potentially) as a pod doesn't need all the bells and whistles of a true starship.

I don't recall if the books provide a cost for just a hull w/o all the bells and whistles (airlocks, life support, sensors, electronics, etc).

It might not need full life support, but it will likely still need heating and such. And, no, the rules don’t specify the cost without it.

 

[Condottiere]

Life support is optional.

I suppose you could reroute the heat from the fusion reactor.

 

[Terry Mixon]

Life support is optional.

I suppose you could reroute the heat from the fusion reactor.

Yeah, but without quantifiable rules, the best I could do was remove the gravity. That cut the cost by halving the power requirements at least.

 

[Arkathan]

Lighting, plumbing, connections and power distribution. You're filling it with Cargo/fuel tanks with cranes and loaders, so it is no costlier than if it were part of a bigger space-capable hull.

 

[Condottiere]

Lighting is a rounding error.

Eliminate gravity from basic systems, and all you would need is communications, computer network, and I suppose plumbing will require electrically powered pumps.

Which leaves us with the hatches.

 

[Arkathan]

Piping and gravitic pumping or compressors (no gravity, remember) going to all the components contained inside.
It isn't just an empty shell. It isn't a static cargo crate. There is stuff inside, and that stuff needs power going to it. A pod is similar to a module, but self contained. If you change the name of the type of thing you are creating, and stick a control center in it, you have a station.

 

[Terry Mixon]

Piping and gravitic pumping or compressors (no gravity, remember) going to all the components contained inside.
It isn't just an empty shell. It isn't a static cargo crate. There is stuff inside, and that stuff needs power going to it. A pod is similar to a module, but self contained. If you change the name of the type of thing you are creating, and stick a control center in it, you have a station.

That makes it clearer in my head. Thanks.

 

[MasterGwydion]

Yeah, but without quantifiable rules, the best I could do was remove the gravity. That cut the cost by halving the power requirements at least.

Isn't the actual rule that it normally requires 20% of the tonnage in PPs for basic systems but without artifical gravity and such it only requires 10% of the tonnage in PPs for basic systems or did I imagine that?

 

[Terry Mixon]

Isn't the actual rule that it normally requires 20% of the tonnage in PPs for basic systems but without artifical gravity and such it only requires 10% of the tonnage in PPs for basic systems or did I imagine that?

That's correct.

 

[Condottiere]

Non gravitated hulls would be minimum five percent.

Sustained acceleration with throttling down the inertial compensation by one gee in a tailsitter would recreate Terran norm artificial gravity.

 

[MasterGwydion]

Non gravitated hulls would be minimum five percent.

Sustained acceleration with throttling down the inertial compensation by one gee in a tailsitter would recreate Terran norm artificial gravity.

By the rules, aren't they still 10%?

 

[Condottiere]

It's half times half.

In theory, lighting and communications shouldn't have any noticeable power consumption; with computers, who knows? Though, an iPhone is pretty much battery operated.

It's basically hatches and life support, and hatches can be operated manually.

For life support, there are some cheats.

I'd say the crucial reason you want basic are life support and for the bridge to be connected to the engines.

 

[MasterGwydion]

It's half times half.

In theory, lighting and communications shouldn't have any noticeable power consumption; with computers, who knows? Though, an iPhone is pretty much battery operated.

It's basically hatches and life support, and hatches can be operated manually.

For life support, there are some cheats.

I'd say the crucial reason you want basic are life support and for the bridge to be connected to the engines.

10% is already a non-gravity hull though. It is 20% with gravity and such.