Terry Mixon
Emperor Mongoose
You must grow your skills first, young Padawan.
Seriously, though, that is the kind of project that needs a good bit of beta testing so it’s not outside the realm of possibility.
Excel Ship Designer v2025.05.31
- Thread starter Arkathan
- Start date
Seriously, though, that is the kind of project that needs a good bit of beta testing so it’s not outside the realm of possibility.mavikfelna
Banded Mongoose
In the mean time, can we get the spreadsheet to allow computers in modules and calculate the costs on the summary?
mavikfelna
Banded Mongoose
Have you looked at my project at all? I'm about halfway through the small craft.You must grow your skills first, young Padawan.
Dropbox
Terry Mixon
Emperor Mongoose
I haven’t. Been too busy on other things. I’ve got a book deadline in three weeks. I will, though, because fixing the Mongoose published ships is something I’d love to see finished.Have you looked at my project at all? I'm about halfway through the small craft.
Dropbox
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Terry Mixon
Emperor Mongoose
Without having the book on Element-Class cruisers right in front of me, I believe the pods could have everything but drives. Separate control areas (specialized bridges), their own computer dedicated to the pod, weapons, power, the whole nine yards. I think the specialized bridges could also act as limited ship control bridges.Element-Class cruisers use pods. They couldn’t be created under the existing rules yet are a product currently being sold with deck plans. This let to reverse engineering how they could be built.
I’m hopeful that the missing rules get put back in High Guard when it gets it’s next update, whether @paltrysum, @Geir, or someone else does it. I cheerfully volunteer myself and @Arkathan to be naval architects to help dig into the guts of the ships and proposed rules when that happens.
Arkathan
Emperor Mongoose
Pods currently do that, use the discounts of modules, and don't require a new spreadsheet.
Pods also don't complain about power plants, like modules do. Another case of authors making illegal designs.
mavikfelna
Banded Mongoose
While I'm thinking about it, what are people's opinions on how to add crew fire control stations for weapons in pods and modules? The official designs seem to go two ways, either adding a sensor station, like the Spaceborn Early Warning module, or Cabin Space, like the Missile Support module. Or is it even needed at all?
Terry Mixon
Emperor Mongoose
Not needed. A weapon has the space required for its gunner(s)’s fire control area already added into its tonnage.
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mavikfelna
Banded Mongoose
Not sure what you mean here? If you mean crew requirements for added weapons, I hadn't even looked at that. I was just looking at the firecontrol so the crew could manage the weapon, which question Terry answered. Do modules and pods even calculate crew requirements? I didn't think they did.
I guess a follow up on this, do we need to add extra crew space on the primary hull to account for possible crew needs from pods that don't include their own? In the pods can cabin space count? Because then again there are several modules that seem to default to it for temporary space for crew to manage the various systems or weapons.
Terry Mixon
Emperor Mongoose
I think he thought you meant staffing. And the pods do calculate crew staffing.
Arkathan
Emperor Mongoose
Crew is calculated. Accommodation Space for crew can be in the main body or in the module.
Now, in the case of modules that double as independent stations, staterooms in the module are required.
mavikfelna
Banded Mongoose
Ok, new issue I ran into. The Automated Lifeboat does not have a bridge or cockpit, just a computer with Virtual Crew 0. Obviously the spreadsheet throws an error if you try and remove the bridge. Is there a legal design way to build this?
Terry Mixon
Emperor Mongoose
Robot brain.
mavikfelna
Banded Mongoose
Follow up here, the official designs often use Cabin Space instead of Staterooms for crew spaces. So why doesn't cabin space count towards crew? The rules in High Guard only explicitly exclude Acceleration seats and benches and low berths. Cabin Space, unlike acceleration seats and benches, includes a life support cost and while the description says 'usually' only used for short trips but doesn't exclude long term use as it's explicitly mentioned it's for use in longer interplanetary distances.
Terry Mixon
Emperor Mongoose
Hmm. I’d still avoid it for extended timeframes. Morale would be in the crapper. Usually need to be the guiding light, but I suppose occasional exceptions could occur. What is the exception you are aiming for?
mavikfelna
Banded Mongoose
Putting in a robot brain still requires a cockpit or bridge to not throw an error. And it's still throwing up a cost of 200KCr for the cockpit that was removed.
Terry Mixon
Emperor Mongoose
Hmm. If there is a robot brain, it shouldn’t throw an error, in my opinion. New feature request.
The cockpit cost is another issue.
mavikfelna
Banded Mongoose
I'm looking at small craft right now. Most have fuel for 8 to 12 weeks of operation and the descriptions mention things like travel to distant stations in system or long term inhabitation on station, implying they are using them for weeks long travel around the system. Almost none of them include staterooms. Most commonly they include Cabin Space, though there are a couple that only include acceleration seats, though I think those usually ones say nothing about extended travel and only have the default 4 weeks fuel.
Geir
Emperor Mongoose
"All ships must have a bridge that contains basic controls, communications equipment, avionics, scanners, detectors, sensors and other equipment for proper operation of the ship." HG'22 p. 19.
So still need to account for all the basic controls, pilot or not. But you could argue (though the rules don't support this) that a cockpit at 1.5 tons would cover all non-crewed ship sizes - with bigger sensors being another cost altogether. So small bridge on ships larger than 50 dtons - with a penalty, all of which gives you an 'advantage' for having a crew. Traveller is about people, after all. Though you could play a robot.
