Ask MongooseMatt ANYTHING!!!

Terry Mixon

Emperor Mongoose
Okay, not really anything, but when we post questions about the rules or potential typos in the feedback area, we often don't receive a response, so I'm creating this thread in the hopes of getting some response to questions we have, even if it is "we're looking at that" or some such.

I'll kick this off with a question I posted a few days ago. The emergency low berths in High Guard 2022 Update are listed at MC1 a pop. Seems real pricy since Mongoose 1e and all the previous versions of Traveller we checked had it being KCr100. In Mongoose 1e, it was listed as MCr.1 and we suspect a typo. Can we get some clartity on that so we can update the starship build sheet to reflect what we suspect if we're right? Thanks.

Also, allow me to suggest that adding KCr, BCr (or GCr to please @Geir), and TCr to your repertoire would be really helpful and would minimize the complaints about not having comma separation in your big numbers, too.

And sorry for all the wild AMA questions you're about to get @MongooseMatt. ;)
 
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As we all know very well, the art isn't what makes the thing, it's the rules. The rules say they can hold whatever, so they can, art be damned. ;)
Sure, but the design predates the current rules by about 30 years so it is entirely reasonable to argue that the modern crunch isn't correct. The docking ring as described in the original ship does not match any of the current rules.

The only reason that the pinnace has direct access to the Lab ship is because it did in the old rules, where it had a custom docking ring that does not exist in the current rules. So claiming that docking clamps have to do the thing that the lab ship does is kind of using fluff to expand the crunch. You can't have it both ways, imho. It is a docking clamp with the features described in MgT2e, which nowhere suggests any access between the clamping and clamped ship is intrinsic. Or you can say that it does all the stuff that the original lab ship does, which explicitly restricts what can dock in the docking ring to 6m diameter round cross section small craft.


btw, the map in HG clearly shows an airlock in the docking ring :D
 
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Sure, but the design predates the current rules by about 30 years so it is entirely reasonable to argue that the modern crunch isn't correct. The docking ring as described in the original ship does not match any of the current rules.

The only reason that the pinnace has direct access to the Lab ship is because it did in the old rules, where it had a custom docking ring that does not exist in the current rules. So claiming that docking clamps have to do the thing that the lab ship does is kind of using fluff to expand the crunch. You can't have it both ways, imho. It is a docking clamp with the features described in MgT2e, which nowhere suggests any access between the clamping and clamped ship is intrinsic. Or you can say that it does all the stuff that the original lab ship does, which explicitly restricts what can dock in the docking ring to 6m diameter round cross section small craft.


btw, the map in HG clearly shows an airlock in the docking ring :D
I'll accept whatever Mongoose says. In this case, they say a docking hatch can be there and that's good enough for me.
 
Yeah, you and I are on the same page, I think. I don't think there's any rules anywhere about non airlock access points, so you can put them wherever you want. I just think that's a separate thing from the clamp itself.

It's kind of semantics, but I think it does matter to say that the default is 'no, the clamped ship does not have access to the clamping ship, but you can put an access point there if you want.' If you say it is defaulting to being there, then your tugs and jump carriers and other commercial craft that move other ships around via clamps have access points they have to protect at all those spots.

That actually affects gameplay, because if a hatch is part of the clamp, then that's a point hijackers can enter the ship. Or someone can open to evacuate the ship to vacuum.
 
Yeah, you and I are on the same page, I think. I don't think there's any rules anywhere about non airlock access points, so you can put them wherever you want. I just think that's a separate thing from the clamp itself.

It's kind of semantics, but I think it does matter to say that the default is 'no, the clamped ship does not have access to the clamping ship, but you can put an access point there if you want.' If you say it is defaulting to being there, then your tugs and jump carriers and other commercial craft that move other ships around via clamps have access points they have to protect at all those spots.

That actually affects gameplay, because if a hatch is part of the clamp, then that's a point hijackers can enter the ship. Or someone can open to evacuate the ship to vacuum.
My view is that just like an airlock, a docking clamp can encompass a docking hatch. Perhaps the default setup excludes them, but they can be possible.
 
It doesn't take much imagine to get around this.

Get around this, being the operative term.

Without getting into the cost side, just add a hatch or an airlock next to the docking clamp, and ensure that there is a corresponding one on the dockee.

There's a reason we have port and starboard on seacraft.
 
Passengers appreciate easy access, and you'd need certain dimensions to achieve this.

And, the chances are they're carrying luggage, and other items that tend to make passageways crowded.
A docking clamp need not be too compact and can in fact surround a normal airlock or docking hatch more than wide enough to accommodate all of that in my view. It could be big enough to allow cargo containers to be moved if so desired and designed. Just think of the "prongs" that secure things as being separate elements that can be spread out and still achieve the same functionality.
 
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Yes. As far as I am concerned, you just need to designate that it does so and, if necessary, make the necessary separate purchase (in the case of an airlock). Traveller rules flat out do not get into the details of how that would work.

Imho, if you want easy access to the other ship, you should get a proper docking space and not skimp with a docking clamp, but having *some* access between a clamped ship and its carrier is not impossible.
 
Yes. As far as I am concerned, you just need to designate that it does so and, if necessary, make the necessary separate purchase (in the case of an airlock). Traveller rules flat out do not get into the details of how that would work.

Imho, if you want easy access to the other ship, you should get a proper docking space and not skimp with a docking clamp, but having *some* access between a clamped ship and its carrier is not impossible.
I made an excel spreadsheet for "stealth airlocks" (an airlock with a holographic hull that makes it look like normal hull) awhile back. I just use that to determine the size of the airlock based on what I want to be able to put through it and then add that tonnage and price to the tonnage and price of the docking clamp.
 
This is an example, and has not been tested out.

You take two Docking Clamp/ones, and place whatever connector you prefer between them.

We'll assume that docking times remain the same, and that the combination has a capacity of upto sixty tonnes.
 
This is an example, and has not been tested out.

You take two Docking Clamp/ones, and place whatever connector you prefer between them.

We'll assume that docking times remain the same, and that the combination has a capacity of upto sixty tonnes.
As written, only the host ship needs a docking clamp. A Type I clamp is good up to 30 tons, and I don’t think adding one on the target ship or pod would double it. A clamp still has that upper limit if it’s connected to a ship or another clamp. Any more would exceed the clamp’s structural limitations.
 
As written, only the host ship needs a docking clamp. A Type I clamp is good up to 30 tons, and I don’t think adding one on the target ship or pod would double it. A clamp still has that upper limit if it’s connected to a ship or another clamp. Any more would exceed the clamp’s structural limitations.
I would say that two Type I clamps could hold 60 tons worth of ship, as long as the docking clamps aren't trying to clamp to each other. lol
 
Not sure why you think anything I was saying had to do with airlocks. I am suggesting that docking clamps don't have a hatch intrinsic to them. But there's no costs I am aware of to putting an external access hatch on a ship if it is not an airlock, so you can designate one being there if you want it to be.

But many, many uses of the docking clamp do not involve access to the clamped ship, so putting a hatch there is unnecessary. So you wouldn't put one, because that's a structural and security weak point.
Ahhh, sorry. I misread (or skimmed) your post. Docking clamps, yes. One-hundred percent, they do not have hatches to the ship. I think there is a pirate vessel like that in the PoD set.
 
Ahhh, sorry. I misread (or skimmed) your post. Docking clamps, yes. One-hundred percent, they do not have hatches to the ship. I think there is a pirate vessel like that in the PoD set.
So how do you get from the ship to the light fighters on the Pirate Carrier in ACS or on all of the other designs that use docking clamps to hold ships that need to be accessed by people or cargo?
 
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