mavikfelna
Cosmic Mongoose
So I had an idea for a very different Aslan character and while thinking about that I was also wondering about External Cargo Mounts and Automation for starships. I know the Hiver's are big on automation and so "Drake" the Hiver ship designer and economic theorist was born with this ship idea.
As an aside, the ship's name is a pun by Drake. The pilot is my Aslan named Herrerwoweruu, commonly called Hero and he is an outcast, so his family pride is the ship. He is also an Aslan, so lion's pride, and then the fact that in stories, the hero's pride either leads to victory or defeat.
Ok, So this is a TL 15, 100 ton, standard hull with 4 points of superdense armor designed to be manned by a single sophont. It has External Cargo Mounts for 400 tons of cargo and 400 ton drop tank mounts. It can only carry up to a total of 400 tons in the external mounts but can switch to whatever it needs when it needs it. It is Maneuver 5, Jump 5 in its base configuration, giving it M-1, J-1 when fully loaded. It has no standard internal cargo space beyond the single ton set aside for stores, but 4 of the 9.5 ton jump fuel containers are mixed use for fuel or cargo if the ship is running light. They are only configured for fuel if the ship is loading external cargo. The ship has a High Stateroom to make journeys more comfortable for the single crewman.
The ship has a small bridge, as the ship's brain is expected to do most of the flying and astrogation, though it does have Civilian Grade Sensors at least and a TL15 built Computer/25 to manage the software needs of the ship. It is the ships automation that sets it apart. The Hero's Brain, another pun by Drake, ship's brain is a TL15 self-aware robot brain that costs nearly 4MCr but provides for all the command and control functions of the ship. It has an extensive sensor and communications suite and can pilot with a +7 DM and astrogate with a +1 DM (including the -4 penalty for not being conscious). It is assisted in ship's maintenance by a StarTek engineering droid, Maintenance Bot and standard Crew Droid, as well as the built in repair drone swarm. The Crew Droid also serves as a steward for the crewman. Additionally, to assist with the trading functions of the ship, a MixCorp BrokerBot provides the necessary skills.
Terry Mixon helped me with the design, but he says it's not right, shouldn't work. He says it's calculating the drive and fuel sizes wrong. But drives are the same size for a 500 ton ship with M-1 and J-1 as for a 100 tons M-5, J-5 ship carrying 400 tons of cargo externally. And fuel use is the same regardless. Neither of us were able to get the other to understand what we were saying so if anyone can shed any light on if this actually correct, let me know. It matches with the numbers from HG 2022 to the best of my calculations. Terry was saying it needed to be a 500 ton hull carrying 300 tons of external cargo to be able to work correctly, but I think he was trying to maintain a higher jump rating. I'm still not sure. So anyway, if anyone else wants to double-check my numbers and assumptions, I'd appreciate it.
For economics, the ship and make 400KCr a jump with a full load against 145834Cr in expenses. If you are jumping 2 parsecs, your max load is 150 tons of cargo but it still generates 240KCr against the same expenses. Jumping 3 parsec with 50 tons is a money loser with only 130Kcr income.
As an aside, the ship's name is a pun by Drake. The pilot is my Aslan named Herrerwoweruu, commonly called Hero and he is an outcast, so his family pride is the ship. He is also an Aslan, so lion's pride, and then the fact that in stories, the hero's pride either leads to victory or defeat.
Ok, So this is a TL 15, 100 ton, standard hull with 4 points of superdense armor designed to be manned by a single sophont. It has External Cargo Mounts for 400 tons of cargo and 400 ton drop tank mounts. It can only carry up to a total of 400 tons in the external mounts but can switch to whatever it needs when it needs it. It is Maneuver 5, Jump 5 in its base configuration, giving it M-1, J-1 when fully loaded. It has no standard internal cargo space beyond the single ton set aside for stores, but 4 of the 9.5 ton jump fuel containers are mixed use for fuel or cargo if the ship is running light. They are only configured for fuel if the ship is loading external cargo. The ship has a High Stateroom to make journeys more comfortable for the single crewman.
The ship has a small bridge, as the ship's brain is expected to do most of the flying and astrogation, though it does have Civilian Grade Sensors at least and a TL15 built Computer/25 to manage the software needs of the ship. It is the ships automation that sets it apart. The Hero's Brain, another pun by Drake, ship's brain is a TL15 self-aware robot brain that costs nearly 4MCr but provides for all the command and control functions of the ship. It has an extensive sensor and communications suite and can pilot with a +7 DM and astrogate with a +1 DM (including the -4 penalty for not being conscious). It is assisted in ship's maintenance by a StarTek engineering droid, Maintenance Bot and standard Crew Droid, as well as the built in repair drone swarm. The Crew Droid also serves as a steward for the crewman. Additionally, to assist with the trading functions of the ship, a MixCorp BrokerBot provides the necessary skills.
Terry Mixon helped me with the design, but he says it's not right, shouldn't work. He says it's calculating the drive and fuel sizes wrong. But drives are the same size for a 500 ton ship with M-1 and J-1 as for a 100 tons M-5, J-5 ship carrying 400 tons of cargo externally. And fuel use is the same regardless. Neither of us were able to get the other to understand what we were saying so if anyone can shed any light on if this actually correct, let me know. It matches with the numbers from HG 2022 to the best of my calculations. Terry was saying it needed to be a 500 ton hull carrying 300 tons of external cargo to be able to work correctly, but I think he was trying to maintain a higher jump rating. I'm still not sure. So anyway, if anyone else wants to double-check my numbers and assumptions, I'd appreciate it.
For economics, the ship and make 400KCr a jump with a full load against 145834Cr in expenses. If you are jumping 2 parsecs, your max load is 150 tons of cargo but it still generates 240KCr against the same expenses. Jumping 3 parsec with 50 tons is a money loser with only 130Kcr income.
