Fuel Bladders

I seem to remember a thing from Mug-A-Traveller callleda fuel bladder that would store away in the ship until needed after skimming. I can't seem to find it in this edition. Or am I missing something
 
Fuel bladders exist:

The Spinwards Marches (Five Sisters Subsector) said:
However, it is also possible to fit extra fuel tanks in a ship's hold. Collapsible 'fuel bladders' and more permanent conversions are both commercially available.
 
I've given my players a modified Beowulf trader that has the option to reconfigure the cargo bay and extend fuel storage by raising the cargo bay floor in sections. It allows them to cross up to jump-3 gaps in rather dodgy jump-1 steps (Difficult Astrogation rolls rather than Easy). They take their time on the calculations.

Beowulf has 22 tons of fuel
Cargo Bay has 88 tons of space (two 22 ton rising sections with gaps along the edges and centre for walking around).
 
Valarian said:
I've given my players a modified Beowulf trader that has the option to reconfigure the cargo bay and extend fuel storage by raising the cargo bay floor in sections. It allows them to cross up to jump-3 gaps in rather dodgy jump-1 steps (Difficult Astrogation rolls rather than Easy). They take their time on the calculations.

Beowulf has 22 tons of fuel
Cargo Bay has 88 tons of space (two 22 ton rising sections with gaps along the edges and centre for walking around).

Have you factored in fuel usage for life support etc? Its an extra 2 weeks at least for the jumps

I designed a long range naval scout on a 200 tonne basis with fuel for 2 jump 3s and 8 weeks fuel for lif manouvre etc. Had to use TL15 drives to get anough fuel and other systems in and it was a tight squeeze?

The idea is for a ship to be able to jump into an enemy system (using stealth jumps)and use sensors to watch it - bit like a sub, so it couldnt easily go to a gas giant to fuel up.
 
CT has this system. As I remember, it cost 10% of the converted volume for storage when not in use.

So, if you wanted a 100 ton fuel bladder, it would fold up into 10 tons when not in use. So it's not free, but when not in use, you get most of the cargo space back.

This was a common conversion for those A1 Free Traders that my group used. Most settings, you can't get where you want to go without Jump-2 range.
 
I just have this mental image of a big balloon coming off the end of a ship. I know, more complicated than that. But... I'd use the stats for the drop tank from high guard, except that as it uses up the fuel, it deflates. The ship would probably be less maneuverable and slower while the bag was fully inflated. Yes, this is a bag that you want to drop immediately upon spotting a possibly hazardous ship. My guess is the usual use would be upon seeing you were in a safe situation, you would fill up the bag at a gas giant and go use it up in a jump.

Adam
 
I could also easily envision something similar to an idea from the Star Wars RPG. Extra cargo pods that "bolt on" to the outside of the ship:
http://images4.wikia.nocookie.net/starwars/images/0/09/Yt1300_cargo_pods.jpg
 
Paladin said:
I could also easily envision something similar to an idea from the Star Wars RPG. Extra cargo pods that "bolt on" to the outside of the ship:

The Superfreighter given in High Guard uses independent cargo modules, these can also contain fuel.
 
Paladin said:
I could also easily envision something similar to an idea from the Star Wars RPG. Extra cargo pods that "bolt on" to the outside of the ship:
http://images4.wikia.nocookie.net/starwars/images/0/09/Yt1300_cargo_pods.jpg

Traveller has called those "Dismountable Tanks" in the past. Since they increase the displacement of the ship, they aren't justified on a J1 ship unless it was built with dismountables in mind (ie. with more drive than it needs, but not enough to push J2)

There are also drop tanks for the one-shot solution.
 
I use demountable fuel tanks and muti-use liquid/gas cargo / fuel tanks, in MTU.

Never liked the idea of bladders that might leak or rupture :?
 
Zowy said:
I use demountable fuel tanks and muti-use liquid/gas cargo / fuel tanks, in MTU.

Never liked the idea of bladders that might leak or rupture :?

They are intended to be pretty short term. Since they won't have the hot pump connection to the jump drive, you jump off of your integral tanks, then refill them from the collapsables. Your cargo bay is an icebox for a few hours, but ships have enough waste heat that this won't last long once the fuel has been cycled into the main tanks.

Note that this is the opposite of Drop Tanks, which *are* designed with the hot pump connection, since you are supposed to charge the jump drive off of the drop tanks, then drop the now empty tanks *before* entering jump.

As such, Drop Tanks are part of a ship's design from the start, while dismountables (either internal or external) and collapsables are aftermarket solutions.
 
nitestar4 said:
I just have this mental image of a big balloon coming off the end of a ship. I know, more complicated than that. But... I'd use the stats for the drop tank from high guard, except that as it uses up the fuel, it deflates. The ship would probably be less maneuverable and slower while the bag was fully inflated. Yes, this is a bag that you want to drop immediately upon spotting a possibly hazardous ship. My guess is the usual use would be upon seeing you were in a safe situation, you would fill up the bag at a gas giant and go use it up in a jump.

Adam

Fuel Bladders go in your cargo hold, not outside the ship.
 
There is an example of what he/she was expressing of an (External) fuel bladder in MGT.

"The Hauler consists of a central ‘drive spine’ to which cargo pods are attached using mechanical clamps. Fuel is stored in long fin-shaped (external fuel bladders) tanks that can be collapsed and withdrawn into the central spine when empty, to make it easier for shuttles to access the cargo pods." from MGT alien module 1 Aslan

http://travellerjim.blogspot.com/2016/02/16001000dt-cargo-transport-tl12.html

Also known as a Bulk Hauler (Oukhaha class), I would like to know where more information could be found since I have the basic information from the Aslan book.

Thx,
 
Subzero001 said:
Also known as a Bulk Hauler (Oukhaha class), I would like to know where more information could be found since I have the basic information from the Aslan book.

This is a case of the author putting something into the description, without even anything in the ships stats, let alone giving details on such a system.
 
Da Rules say you can't use the fuel from the bladders directly to transition.

However, if you can replace the fuel in the tanks from the bladders at the same rate it's being drained, you could have it available for the next transition, or just to act as fuel for the fusion plant, if the naval architect really shaved that thin, using the non bladdered volume as the jump volume.
 
The easiest way to store Hydrogen is in the form of water. 13.5 m3 of Water contains 1.5 Tons of Hydrogen. So a Cargo hold (plumbed into the Fuel purifier), a fuel purifier, power and time is all you need to replenish the Jump drive fuel. (Feel free to do what you want with the Oxygen.)
There are other chemicals (such as Ammonia) that store Hydrogen more efficiently than water, but they are generally unpleasant.
 
Dalt has the right idea. A simple container holding water and you just pump it through your purifiers when you need hydrogen. Far cheaper and easier than storing liquefied hydrogen in your cargo hold. Technically very easy to do, and safe. You could also use actual rubber fuel bladders like the military does and just dump them at your next port call, or even out the cargo bay if you are in deep space between systems.
 
Condottiere said:
Da Rules say you can't use the fuel from the bladders directly to transition.

However, if you can replace the fuel in the tanks from the bladders at the same rate it's being drained, you could have it available for the next transition, or just to act as fuel for the fusion plant, if the naval architect really shaved that thin, using the non bladdered volume as the jump volume.

My group did a bit of the CT version of The Traveller Adventure years ago and we used fuel bladders instead of drop tanks. I think this is how we did it (but it was 10 years ago so my memory may be hazy).
 
If you use a safer form of storage, the fuel purifier rate does become critical, though I remember someone proposed external fuel hoses pumping from an external tank, presumably outside the diameter of the jump bubble and the starship at rest.
 
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