Deepnight Endeavour Fuel Shuttle

[Terry Mixon]

Whoever designed the Deepnight Endeavour Fuel Shuttle was on crack. Seriously, they were smoking something that warped their reality.

Here is the writeup.



I was putting it into @Arkathan's spreadsheet to get the cost and it was crazy off build. It states there is a crew of 8. Captain, Pilot, Engineer x2, and Mechanic x4.

First up, a commercial crew would number 27. That's significantly over the called for crew, but let's keep it as designed for kicks.

Here is the summary page from the spreadsheet as designed. Thanks @Arkathan!



Where to start? The summary doesn't show how much power isn't required. Let me show that for you.



It literally has twice as much power as it needs. That's right around MCr250 wasted as written. There is also 216 tons unaccounted for. If it used a fuel purifier, that would make sense, but there is none.

Also, even with the reduced crew, it has two cabins less than is needed. And four times as much common area. Like I said, whacked.

So, I decided to do an update for it. Here you go.



I added fuel purifiers to do the 9,000 tons of fuel in a day and it still wasn't using 2,000 power, so I cut that back to the max it could use. I made it 8 staterooms and 8 tons of common area and dropped the cargo to 100 tons so as to have 1% for consumables and such. This used all the tonnage EXACTLY, made it cheaper, and tailored to what was needed much better than the original.

It had to have been meant to work the updated way. There is no way the tonnage and power in my version would have worked out exactly if it hadn't been. Just sayin'.

And here are both the original and updated designs in the spreadsheet. Enjoy!

 

[MonsterX]

That looks like a Deepnight Endeavour fuel shuttle, not a Deepnight Revelation fuel shuttle. Deepnight Revelation doesn't have fuel shuttles.

 

[Terry Mixon]

That looks like a Deepnight Endeavour fuel shuttle, not a Deepnight Revelation fuel shuttle. Deepnight Revelation doesn't have fuel shuttles.

I think you’re right. I’ll have to look at it again. I probably used the wrong name.

EDIT: As the zip file says Endeavor, that almost certainly correct.

 

[Arkathan]

I think you’re right. I’ll have to look at it again. I probably used the wrong name.

EDIT: As the zip file says Endeavor, that almost certainly correct.

I think the big font at the top of your first photo has the answer.

 

[Terry Mixon]

I think the big font at the top of your first photo has the answer.

It’s too early to read…

 

[MonsterX]

Been refereeing DNR for a while now. The lack of fuel shuttles constrains the refueling options.

 

[Terry Mixon]

Been refereeing DNR for a while now. The lack of fuel shuttles constrains the refueling options.

Deepnight Endeavour stole them all.

 

[Grognardia]

I think a lot of the ship 'designers' were smoking crack while they worked

 

[shammond42]

Been refereeing DNR for a while now. The lack of fuel shuttles constrains the refueling options.

I allow the 60-ton pinnaces to function as fuel shuttles. The description (p. 57 Campaign Guide) says they can carry fuel, so I think that is what was intended.

 

[MonsterX]

I allow the 60-ton pinnaces to function as fuel shuttles. The description (p. 57 Campaign Guide) says they can carry fuel, so I think that is what was intended.

Given their size, it would take weeks to refuel. Revelations takes something like 30000 tons. You're filling a bathtub with a teaspoon.

 

[shammond42]

Given their size, it would take weeks to refuel. Revelations takes something like 30000 tons. You're filling a bathtub with a teaspoon.

That's fair. Here's more detail around how I think about it. The ship needs 27,600 tons of fuel to fully refuel (that may not always be necessary) The shuttles carry 20 tons of cargo. I also said the 14 tons of stateroom/common area could be repurposed for fuel, taking us to 34 tons.

With 6 shuttles, each one has to make 135 trips. There are plenty of pilots on board, so you can run 3 shifts. Assuming the Revelation can orbit the fuel source, each shuttle can probably make 12 trips a day. That means it takes about 11 days to refuel this way.

The 200 ton scouts can carry roughly twice as much fuel. If you use them too, you can cut that down to about 4 days.

That is certainly not ideal, and your point is valid.

Six scouts always seemed excessive to me. If I was running the Revelation I might convert three of them into dedicated fuel shuttles. If you can get them to carry as much fuel as 4 shuttles, that expands you capacity a lot. Running everything you've got, you can get it done in 2 1/2 days. More likely you let the fuel shuttles do it over 6 days, and use the rest of your craft to explore the system.

 

[MasterGwydion]

That's fair. Here's more detail around how I think about it. The ship needs 27,600 tons of fuel to fully refuel (that may not always be necessary) The shuttles carry 20 tons of cargo. I also said the 14 tons of stateroom/common area could be repurposed for fuel, taking us to 34 tons.

With 6 shuttles, each one has to make 135 trips. There are plenty of pilots on board, so you can run 3 shifts. Assuming the Revelation can orbit the fuel source, each shuttle can probably make 12 trips a day. That means it takes about 11 days to refuel this way.

The 200 ton scouts can carry roughly twice as much fuel. If you use them too, you can cut that down to about 4 days.

That is certainly not ideal, and your point is valid.

Six scouts always seemed excessive to me. If I was running the Revelation I might convert three of them into dedicated fuel shuttles. If you can get them to carry as much fuel as 4 shuttles, that expands you capacity a lot. Running everything you've got, you can get it done in 2 1/2 days. More likely you let the fuel shuttles do it over 6 days, and use the rest of your craft to explore the system.

Why use ships at all for refueling? Why not just install a Fuel Refinery from the Space Station section of High Guard? It come with fuel scooping drones. Orbit a gas giant or planet with water and send out the robotic fuel gatherers.

2,000 tons of fuel refinery refuels the ship in less than a day and uses 4 crewmembers.

 

[shammond42]

Why use ships at all for refueling? Why not just install a Fuel Refinery from the Space Station section of High Guard? It come with fuel scooping drones. Orbit a gas giant or planet with water and send out the robotic fuel gatherers.

2,000 tons of fuel refinery refuels the ship in less than a day and uses 4 crewmembers.

Good idea. I was trying to stick with what was already presented in DNR.

 

[MasterGwydion]

Good idea. I was trying to stick with what was already presented in DNR.

I used to always try and stay as close as possible to the published ship designs until I realized that the writers had no idea how to design a ship for it's intended purposes. That is why, now, I rewrite every single ship before it appears in My campaigns.

Edit: Although, I need several people to look over My work, find the flaws, then I fix them and the process starts over again, before the ships are actually ready for play.

 

[MonsterX]

I used to always try and stay as close as possible to the published ship designs until I realized that the writers had no idea how to design a ship for it's intended purposes. That is why, now, I rewrite every single ship before it appears in My campaigns.

Edit: Although, I need several people to look over My work, find the flaws, then I fix them and the process starts over again, before the ships are actually ready for play.

What I should have done with the DNR.