In my current campaign I have hit upon a cunning wheeze to provide an austerity level of "lifeboat" that can be implemented without changing a default ship design or adding in supplementary craft that provides life support longer than that available from a soft suit or a survival bubble.
The basis of my supposition is that the ship is a type J modified to carry a few more passengers to increase the work crew and run occasional passenger runs to supplement income. Per High Guard, they can normally carry a mining buggy and I note that these "used to be" enclosed. As I don't have the stats for that I just subbed in a default air raft with additional short term life support and vacuum protection (since the air raft is also standard with the Courier Scout).
My idea is to use the already carried enclosed air raft supplemented with soft suits, additional life support modules and fast drug. The ship in question is a modified scout and can carry a maximum of 8 people with double occupancy but usually carries no more than 6 and never more than 7 (the captain doesn't share). Ship crew is supplemented by a crew droid.
The plan is that in an emergency passengers would don soft suits found in their cabins emergency lockers. This gives them 4 hours air. In the even that evacuation is necessary they make their way to the air raft bay where they are each issued with a modified TL12 Rebreather unit (CSC p100) that can be plugged into the ship interface in their soft suit. This adds another 12-24 hours of air.
The enclosed air raft itself provides 4 days air and can carry 6 people with 1/4 ton cargo. Whilst this space is theoretically taken up with short term life support I have assumed that this can be dealt with on a pro rata basis as it is one space per 20 passengers and we only have 6. I also assume a small amount of spare space is available for personal gear. This is plenty for a rebreather and small survival kit each and single TL10 Portable Fusion Generator with enriched fuel (CSC p117). If you are unhappy with this then you can leave the rebreathers out and instead extend the life support duration of the raft itself to 12 days (or not). There is still plenty of air.
The passengers would be placed in seats and administered fast drug. The droid will remain external to the raft to monitor the situation, reviving crew if necessary but mostly maintaining the raft, and an emergency beacon. The Portable Fusion Generator is there for auxiliary power to the air raft systems and to recharge the droid (and provide additional power for tools when conducting mining operations) in order to conserve the fuel cells on the air raft. The waste oxygen could be recovered to supplement the air supply, (about 8 kg of oxygen in the 10 kg of fuel). I am not sure what this equates to in hours of breathing but my estimation is another 30 hours for 6 people (which equates to about 70 days under Fast Drug).
This arrangement allows survival for 310-380 days (with the last of these days being supported only by the rafts dwindling fuel supply as the fusion generator will have exhausted its fuel by then. For the sophonts it will appear as if 5-6 days have passed. They will doubtless be dehydrated, hungry and probably suffering from muscle wastage, bed sores, other skin disorders and other illnesses a doctor would be better able to describe after so much time sat in a seat without food or water and, as soft suits don't seem to have waste management, they will have been stewing in their own waste adding to the discomfort (the crew's ship suits will save them from at least this indignity).
There is scope for tethering vacc suited, and fast drugged passengers to the raft for a short period (10 days on just the soft suit air and over 2 months if they have a rebreather). This could be an option if there are more than 6 crew and passengers. I am assuming that Fast Drug "suspended animation" means that they are unconscious as otherwise psychological issues will need to be added to the list of medical complications.
In the event that evacuation is close to a habitable planet this might even allow the Air Raft enough time to make planet fall (on a boost-coast profile), further increasing the chances of survival (at least for those inside - tethered people would need to be abandoned prior to atmospheric entry and returned for later, if there was enough fuel and they could be found - let's be generous and assume each softsuit comes with a Vacc Emergency Kit CSC p121).
It is likely to be a traumatic experience but as it is an alternative to death in a destroyed ship it is better than nothing. 4 low passengers are presently left to their fate and will go down with the ship, though with grav low berths, if the ship destruction was not rapid there might be time to tether them to the raft as well and power them via the portable fusion generator.
The basis of my supposition is that the ship is a type J modified to carry a few more passengers to increase the work crew and run occasional passenger runs to supplement income. Per High Guard, they can normally carry a mining buggy and I note that these "used to be" enclosed. As I don't have the stats for that I just subbed in a default air raft with additional short term life support and vacuum protection (since the air raft is also standard with the Courier Scout).
My idea is to use the already carried enclosed air raft supplemented with soft suits, additional life support modules and fast drug. The ship in question is a modified scout and can carry a maximum of 8 people with double occupancy but usually carries no more than 6 and never more than 7 (the captain doesn't share). Ship crew is supplemented by a crew droid.
The plan is that in an emergency passengers would don soft suits found in their cabins emergency lockers. This gives them 4 hours air. In the even that evacuation is necessary they make their way to the air raft bay where they are each issued with a modified TL12 Rebreather unit (CSC p100) that can be plugged into the ship interface in their soft suit. This adds another 12-24 hours of air.
The enclosed air raft itself provides 4 days air and can carry 6 people with 1/4 ton cargo. Whilst this space is theoretically taken up with short term life support I have assumed that this can be dealt with on a pro rata basis as it is one space per 20 passengers and we only have 6. I also assume a small amount of spare space is available for personal gear. This is plenty for a rebreather and small survival kit each and single TL10 Portable Fusion Generator with enriched fuel (CSC p117). If you are unhappy with this then you can leave the rebreathers out and instead extend the life support duration of the raft itself to 12 days (or not). There is still plenty of air.
The passengers would be placed in seats and administered fast drug. The droid will remain external to the raft to monitor the situation, reviving crew if necessary but mostly maintaining the raft, and an emergency beacon. The Portable Fusion Generator is there for auxiliary power to the air raft systems and to recharge the droid (and provide additional power for tools when conducting mining operations) in order to conserve the fuel cells on the air raft. The waste oxygen could be recovered to supplement the air supply, (about 8 kg of oxygen in the 10 kg of fuel). I am not sure what this equates to in hours of breathing but my estimation is another 30 hours for 6 people (which equates to about 70 days under Fast Drug).
This arrangement allows survival for 310-380 days (with the last of these days being supported only by the rafts dwindling fuel supply as the fusion generator will have exhausted its fuel by then. For the sophonts it will appear as if 5-6 days have passed. They will doubtless be dehydrated, hungry and probably suffering from muscle wastage, bed sores, other skin disorders and other illnesses a doctor would be better able to describe after so much time sat in a seat without food or water and, as soft suits don't seem to have waste management, they will have been stewing in their own waste adding to the discomfort (the crew's ship suits will save them from at least this indignity).
There is scope for tethering vacc suited, and fast drugged passengers to the raft for a short period (10 days on just the soft suit air and over 2 months if they have a rebreather). This could be an option if there are more than 6 crew and passengers. I am assuming that Fast Drug "suspended animation" means that they are unconscious as otherwise psychological issues will need to be added to the list of medical complications.
In the event that evacuation is close to a habitable planet this might even allow the Air Raft enough time to make planet fall (on a boost-coast profile), further increasing the chances of survival (at least for those inside - tethered people would need to be abandoned prior to atmospheric entry and returned for later, if there was enough fuel and they could be found - let's be generous and assume each softsuit comes with a Vacc Emergency Kit CSC p121).
It is likely to be a traumatic experience but as it is an alternative to death in a destroyed ship it is better than nothing. 4 low passengers are presently left to their fate and will go down with the ship, though with grav low berths, if the ship destruction was not rapid there might be time to tether them to the raft as well and power them via the portable fusion generator.
Last edited:
