Disassembling the ship

[dzanis]

Hi,

So I am running a certain pirate campaign and there was a question that I wanted to listed to wisdom of other referees.

Player character want to dismantle certain ship parts, for example, weapons from turrets. Assuming the ship is down and not movable to any shipyard - what are your ideas - is it doable? what tools would be needed to cut out a partcile beam weaponry?

thanks

 

[Reynard]

By 'down' you mean the target ship is grounded? Without the proper lifting equipment, that would be extremely difficult. Maybe a grav vehicle such as an air/raft could be used to hoist the items. I don't believe most ship weapons weigh that much. Disassemble in a microgravity is much simpler as there is no weight issue. I would say this is a Mechanics Task and you definitely need a mechanical toolkit.

 

[dragoner]

Hi,

So I am running a certain pirate campaign and there was a question that I wanted to listed to wisdom of other referees.

Player character want to dismantle certain ship parts, for example, weapons from turrets. Assuming the ship is down and not movable to any shipyard - what are your ideas - is it doable? what tools would be needed to cut out a partcile beam weaponry?

thanks

Mechanical skill, and mechanics or engineers tool kit, some sort of hoist. Doable, skill roll, time.

 

[dzanis]

Thank you both for answers.

Yes, I meant that ship is on ground, characters have some cutting tools (or ship repair drones) and they want to carry away a weapon from downed ship.

 

[snrdg121408]

Hello dzanis,

Electronic/Electrical skill will probably be another good one to use when salvaging equipment from other ships. My reasoning is that many systems have components that require power to operate them. If the ship made a hard landing the electronic/electrical components of the particle beam weaponry may have been damaged.

For example In a different RPG the party my character was part of salvaged a laser and missile launcher from a ship that crashed. We pulled the weapons off the wreck, installed them on our ship, and headed to the next destination without testing them. Part of the referee's plot had the laser being damaged in such away that an electronic/electrical skill roll was needed to find and fix the fault. No one tested the electronics and during combat the laser blew-up.

In that campaign my character, refreshingly, survived to the end and made darn sure that any salvages equipment got a complete going over. Okay testing as complete as possible with the equipment on hand. As a result anything the character works on rarely self destructs or stays broken.

 

[phavoc]

By 'down' you mean the target ship is grounded? Without the proper lifting equipment, that would be extremely difficult. Maybe a grav vehicle such as an air/raft could be used to hoist the items. I don't believe most ship weapons weigh that much. Disassemble in a microgravity is much simpler as there is no weight issue. I would say this is a Mechanics Task and you definitely need a mechanical toolkit.

Assuming they had the right tools and more importantly, knowledge, I would say it's totally doable.

Keep in mind that if they are just trying to salvage for resale or salvage for installation in their own ship, there are some things to consider. Removing a turret should be a pain, but doable. Question is, do you want to also require them to install new power runs to the turret (the book doesn't cover it, but the cost of installing that triple turret in the shipyard may include the necessary power couplings and sensor linkages to the ship's systems for it to function). It could be that some of those things require electroncs skill to remove, and/or mechanical.

And don't forget, if the ships' systems are still functioning (and powered somehow) you could simply dial down the internal gravity plating to say 10%, so you have the advantages of having gravity, but at a much reduced level. Microgravity is good for somethings, but it's nice not to have to chase down a bolt, or things stay in place when you put them on the floor.

 

[Condottiere]

Anyone with powerful enough tools can take them apart, but only if they are directed by supervisors with engineering and electronics who have an inkling how the equipment was installed, and the most efficient way to take them out without damaging the stuff.

 

[Infojunky]

Player character want to dismantle certain ship parts, for example, weapons from turrets. Assuming the ship is down and not movable to any shipyard - what are your ideas - is it doable? what tools would be needed to cut out a partcile beam weaponry?

Talking about Turrets, not a problem. Got an Air/raft with a cargo hook even easier. Hint, it has always been assumed that Harpoint weapons in turrets are pretty interchangeable. The appropriate Gunner skill, mechanics and Electronic covers all your bases....

 

[Tom Kalbfus]

Thank you both for answers.

Yes, I meant that ship is on ground, characters have some cutting tools (or ship repair drones) and they want to carry away a weapon from downed ship.

The ground on an asteroid is a lot different from the ground on an Earth sized planet.

 

[Reynard]

A Mechanic and possibly an Electronic toolset plus the related skills plus a lifting device able to access the turret(s) location should do the job alright. This is Traveller, not popular Science so it doesn't have to be complicated.

 

[snrdg121408]

Hello Reynard,

A Mechanic and possibly an Electronic toolset plus the related skills plus a lifting device able to access the turret(s) location should do the job alright. This is Traveller, not popular Science so it doesn't have to be complicated.

Don't forget the duct tape. ;-)

 

[Condottiere]

And if that didn't work, WD Forty.