Collector Based Armstrong Ship

[PsiTraveller]

With the creation of the Interstellar vessel, the Zarelinung class ship, Mongoose has published a Collector based ship. The use of Collector technology can really push the capability of a ship. By removing the need for Jump fuel (at the expense of having to wait motionless for 7 days to recharge the Collector), the ship can cross rifts in a slow steady pace while carrying a lot of cargo.
In the Armstrong Class thread I put out the idea of a folding ship that reduced tonnage to get more fuel savings. With the use of Collectors the Armstrong rift crossing explorer ship is completely tranformed. Ignoring the possibility of putting in a TL 15 Jump 4 or 5 Jump drive and sticking with the J3 design.

Drop out the expensive Jump drives and stick to 80 tons of J3. Drop 4 tons of fuel processors, you only need 1 processor to make 8 months of fuel a day.
Add in the 35 tons of J3 Collectors for powering the Jump Drive and this frees up the 510 tons of fuel you used to need.

Your explorer ship now carries 585 tons of cargo in a 1000 ton J3 ship. The ship costs 400 Mcr, cheaper than the original and far more capable.
I have a jpeg of the ship design sheet but cannot seem to post it. I am clueless about these things, I admit.

 

[PsiTraveller]

Armstrong Explorer Ship_ Collector
Tech Level 15 Tons Cost
Hull 1000 tons, Streamlined 60
Armour
M-Drive Thrust 1 G Energy Efficient X 3 10 20
J-Drive Jump-3 80 120
Collector Jump 3 Collector 35 17.5
Power Plant Fusion(TL-15), Power 600 30 60
Fuel Tanks: Power Plant 32 weeks operation 24
Fuel: Jump J-1 @ 300 Tons
Bridge 20 5
Computer Computer 35 30
Sensors Advanced with Extended Arrays 15 15.9
Deep Penetration Scanners 1 1
Life Scanner Analysis Suite 1 4
Weapons Double Turret(pulse lasers) X 4 4 10
Missile Barbette 5 4
Systems Ships Locker
Fuel Scoop
Fuel Processor (20 Tons/Day) 1 0.05
Docking Space (30 Tons) X 2 66 16.5
Ship's Boat X 2 14.54
Laboratory 8 2
Workshop 6 0.9
Medical Bay 4 2
Staterooms Standard X 12 48 6
Emergency Lowberths X 4 4 4
Brig 4 0.25
Common Areas 48 4.8
Cargo 585
Tons 999
Cost 398.44

 

[Reynard]

Problem with Collectors is you're very vulnerable while recharging over days. If the purpose of your ship is to explore new regions at great distance, you may not want to exit and not be able to fully refuel as quickly as possible in case of a dangerous encounter. You also can't use any port facilities to refuel quickly. 1 to 6 hours compared to 168 is a lot different.

 

[Sigtrygg]

Another problem, collector based Zhodani warships could empty hex jump all the way across the SM... the setting would be very different.

 

[AnotherDilbert]

Problem with Collectors is you're very vulnerable while recharging over days.

You can have several collectors, all of them recharges in a week, then you can make several jumps...

So, yes, it changes the setting considerably.

 

[Reynard]

That kind of paranoia costs valuable tonnage and each would need their own canopy. How many canopies can a ship utilize at one time?

 

[Condottiere]

I thought the charge decayed if it isn't used.

 

[BigDogsRunning]

why couldn't you use the collector, generally, but have enough fuel for a jump 1 as backup? that way you can get out of dodge in a hurry if you need to do so.

 

[Reynard]

You could but you need a second unit and need to charge that one for a week. As it's been said, those canopies are HUGE so it would be ludicrous thinking you could deploy multiple canopies. The Annic Nova has a J2 and a J3 but its single accumulator, though sized to charge a maximum jump 3, isn't able, from what I understand, both one after another. You would need a second accumulator at 17 tons. I'm guessing the 'plus 5 tons' represents the canopy in storage. How would this tiny dot of a ship deploy two kilometers diameter canopies simultaneously?

 

[Sigtrygg]

The Annic Nova canopy collects enough <insert handwave here> to operate both jump drives.

Fuel, Refuel, or Power. The canopy collects radiated stellar power and stores it in the accumulators on the drive deck. The only way to extend the canopy is with the controls on the drive deck (page 27, column I), or the control panel in the observation dome (entry point 5). It cannot be controlled from the bridge. Sufficient energy may be accumulated to power each of the jump drives once, as well as to maintain internal life support in ordinary circumstances. Note that a jump drive can be used for any jump distance up to its full rating, but that each jump takes approximately one week (Traveller Book 2, pages 1 and 2).
Duration of internal power: 60 days under ordinary load.
Required recharge time: 1 to 6 weeks (ID), depending on the distance from and spectral type of the star serving as radiation source.

In a podcast interview MWM let slip some interesting tidbits:
the Annic Nova was built for a group of lost Vilani explorers by an alien race of very high TL, or rather they repaired and improved upon the ship's broken jump drive since they had not discovered jump themselves but being TL28+...
the Vilani gained jump 2 technology thanks to the people that came back with the Annic Nova (they didn't hand over the secret of jump 3 though)
the Annic Nova can actually use both jump engines and raise the jump rating of one engine to the exponent of the other, i.e. jump 3^2 for a 9 parsec jump, or 2^3 for an 8 parsec jump. This is achieved by a Hieronymus linkage nexus thingy...

Must find the link to the podcast to confirm this...

and here it is:
https://gamingandbs.com/marc-miller-traveller-bbs016/

Annic Nova discussion starts at 34mins 20 sec.

 

[Condottiere]

What you could have is a starship with a breakaway hull, or any arrangement that makes it a game of lego mix and match, with multiple collectors.

 

[DivineWrath]

Why separate canopies? Can't you refill all the collectors at once using just one canopy? None of the rules makes me think refilling collectors is a complex process.

 

[Sigtrygg]

Did you read my post?

The Annic Nova can charge both its jump drives with its canopy,

 

[Condottiere]

If the starships are modular, they can take onboard a precharged collector.

 

[DivineWrath]

Did you read my post?

The Annic Nova can charge both its jump drives with its canopy,

I guess I didn't read your post...

 

[BigDogsRunning]

If the starships are modular, they can take onboard a precharged collector.

If this became a common technology, you could have jump stations where ships exchange depleted collectors for precharged collectors. The stations could easily have big-assed collectors to charge multiple collectors simultaneously.

This is related to the idea of having a Jump station at 100+diameters that will charge your Zuchai crystals, and depending on whether or not you're using hydrogen filled jump envelops or not, provide drop tanks. traders could then save considerable internal space that would have been used for jump fuel.

 

[DivineWrath]

Why modular collectors? Why not make it so that collectors can be filled by other ships and space stations? Do it much like how refined fuel can be transferred.

Collectors are about 1/10th the size of normal fuel storage, so a collector charge should be worth about 10 times the normal rate for fuel. So 5000 cr per ton. Maybe more because you can carry more cargo, passengers, and install farther jump drives.

Seriously, you can refit a Far Trader (Type-A2) with J-6, collectors, batteries, and a better computer. It'll sacrifice no cargo or passenger space.

Edit: However, the parts will nearly double the cost of the ship.