For the sake of
@Terry Mixon and
@MasterGwydion I have tweaked the description to helpfully make it more clear how this works and what I'm doing. I hope this helps!
Also, including the blurb I used when posting to the FaceBook groups.:
(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 6 points of superdense armor designed to be manned by a single sophont. It has External Cargo Mounts for 470 tons of cargo and a 30 ton drop tank mounts (Drop tank mounts may hold up to 500 tons of fuel tanks if no cargo is carried). It is Maneuver 6, Jump 5 (Rating 6 but there is not enough internal fuel tankage to allow more than Jump 3 and any external tankage reduces the Jump rating) in its base configuration, giving it M-1, J-1 when fully loaded. It has no standard internal cargo space beyond the single ton and a half set aside for stores and personal equipment, but 2 of the 10-ton jump fuel containers are mixed use for fuel or cargo if the ship is running without external cargo and jumping 2 or less parsecs. They are all 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 crew-being.
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 Military Grade Sensors and a TL15 built Core/40 computer 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 crew-being. Additionally, to assist with the trading functions of the ship, a MixCorp BrokerBot provides the necessary skills.
For economics, the ship can make 470KCr a jump with a full load against 177,028Cr in expenses. If you are jumping 2 parsecs, your max load is 270 tons of cargo but it still generates 432KCr against the same expenses. Jumping 3 parsecs with 70 tons of cargo will generate 182KCr. Jumping 4 parsec with 20 tons is a money loser with only 88Kcr income.)