New to Traveller...questions...

[blackphoenix]

I'm new to traveller and have two quick questions.

How does the armor work for a ship when buying it?
What confuses me is the "protection: 2 per 5%" for titanium in example. Does that mean I could have 40 for armor if I went 20 x 5% for 100%? Help?

Also are there any plans for smaller craft like shuttles, pinnacle, life boats, etc?

 

[Emperor Herdan]

Welcome Blackphoenix;

Many others here will be able to help you far better than I, but what help I can give I shall.

Regarding the smaller ships;
There are some plans included in the core book, and I'm sure that there will be more forthcoming in the later volumes. I would think the Traders and Gunboats would have a goodly amount of the smaller craft varients in them. There are also non-mongoose products that you can use in the mean time.

Regarding Armour for Spacecraft
Armour works (I'm doing this from memory) as reducing any amount of damage taken. Your example is that you've filled up 100% of the space available in your starship with titanium, granting you a (basically) solid block of Titanium with armour factor 40. It can't move, has no life support etc...

Uusally warships go with about 10 to 20% of space dedicated to armour. Depends on the type of warship (non-jump ships can devote higher % than jump ships) Likewise as the ships tech level of construction increases, you get better armour for either the same % used or a reduction in the % used.

So if the ship is going to Jump through the stellar lanes, either its unarmoured, or depending on how far it has to jump, moderately armoured (in ones owns opinion (say 5 to 15% of available space)) Don't go overboard on the armour as you still have to fill the ship up with Bridge, Lifesupport, Engines etc. (smile)

Hope this helps and take care

Emperor Herdan

 

[saundby]

Emp. Herdan has it.

Traveller rules pg. 106: Armour is added in 5% increments of the ship's tonnage.

A 200 ton ship with 5% of its mass in armor has 10 tons of armor, and 190 tons of space left over for other stuff.

And pg. 150, second paragraph under Damage lets you know that the ship's armour rating is deducted from the striking weapon's damage roll before location is determined.

So if you put 5% of the ship's mass into titanium armour then each hit on the ship will do 2 points less damage (might as well be cheesecloth, eh? ). Put 10% of your ship's mass into titanium and each hit is reduced by 4 points. Or you can splurge on crystaliron, put 5% of your ship's total mass into it, and get the same 4 points of protection as 10% titanium. Ths gives back 5% of your ship's mass (probably for cargo space to haul high value cargo to pay for the armor.)

I usually recommend speccing out the full ship without armor first, then deciding how much mass you're willing to give up to get some armor.

As to small craft, there are several starting on pg.133, including a pinnace, launch, ship's boat, shuttle, and light fighter. I'm sure we'll see more in future books.

 

[GypsyComet]

Emp. Herdan has it.

Traveller rules pg. 106: Armour is added in 5% increments of the ship's tonnage.

A 200 ton ship with 5% of its mass in armor has 10 tons of armor, and 190 tons of space left over for other stuff.

And pg. 150, second paragraph under Damage lets you know that the ship's armour rating is deducted from the striking weapon's damage roll before location is determined.

So if you put 5% of the ship's mass into titanium armour then each hit on the ship will do 2 points less damage (might as well be cheesecloth, eh? ). Put 10% of your ship's mass into titanium and each hit is reduced by 4 points. Or you can splurge on crystaliron, put 5% of your ship's total mass into it, and get the same 4 points of protection as 10% titanium. Ths gives back 5% of your ship's mass (probably for cargo space to haul high value cargo to pay for the armor.)

I usually recommend speccing out the full ship without armor first, then deciding how much mass you're willing to give up to get some armor.

As to small craft, there are several starting on pg.133, including a pinnace, launch, ship's boat, shuttle, and light fighter. I'm sure we'll see more in future books.

A good explanation, but one that carries a long-standing bit of Traveller confusion with it. The "tons" in ship design are a measurement of volume, not mass. The "ton" refers to the amount of space that one ton of liquid hydrogen takes up (or "displaces"), and is commonly referred to as a displacement ton or "dton" to differentiate it from a "ton" of mass.

Pedantry aside, if you get this difference early, it will not drive you mad later.

 

[Rikki Tikki Traveller]

Also, there is nothing stopping you from buying just 1 point of armor, it would take up 2.5% of the ship's volume.

 

[Gruffty the Hiver]

Also, there is nothing stopping you from buying just 1 point of armor, it would take up 2.5% of the ship's volume.

You just *had* to go and complicate things for the poor guy, didn't you!

 

[Infojunky]

Also, there is nothing stopping you from buying just 1 point of armor, it would take up 2.5% of the ship's volume.

Nothing, ship construction is a set of guidelines, not hard and fast rules.

Just tell us where you vary...

 

[far-trader]

Also, there is nothing stopping you from buying just 1 point of armor, it would take up 2.5% of the ship's volume.

Actually if this was accurately quoted and not taken out of some other context:

"Armour is added in 5% increments of the ship's tonnage."

Then, yes, THAT rule is something stopping you from buying "just 1 point of armor" if it's less than 5%. Or more precisely I suppose you could buy just 1 point of armor but it would still require a minimum of 5% of the ship's tonnage

 

[far-trader]

...ship construction is a set of guidelines, not hard and fast rules.

Oh yeah, that can only be good :roll:

With ample precedent from CT backing you up I'm not saying you're wrong...

Just tell us where you vary...

Yes, and quite acceptable with that.

 

[Infojunky]

I have some other good one too if ya want them.

Right now I'm on the kick if you can't make a deckplan for it why do we need it?

 

[zozotroll]

Depends on your style of play I guess, but other than boarding actions, or major trouble on the ship, I dont know why you would want them.

 

[Rikki Tikki Traveller]

Also, there is nothing stopping you from buying just 1 point of armor, it would take up 2.5% of the ship's volume.

Actually if this was accurately quoted and not taken out of some other context:

"Armour is added in 5% increments of the ship's tonnage."

Then, yes, THAT rule is something stopping you from buying "just 1 point of armor" if it's less than 5%. Or more precisely I suppose you could buy just 1 point of armor but it would still require a minimum of 5% of the ship's tonnage

Dan, you are right, I misquoted the rules. It must be added in 5% increments (2 points) in the Core Rule Book. HG may be different.

 

[blackphoenix]

Thanks guys!

 

[saundby]

A good explanation, but one that carries a long-standing bit of Traveller confusion with it. The "tons" in ship design are a measurement of volume, not mass. The "ton" refers to the amount of space that one ton of liquid hydrogen takes up (or "displaces"), and is commonly referred to as a displacement ton or "dton" to differentiate it from a "ton" of mass.

Pedantry aside, if you get this difference early, it will not drive you mad later.

Right! Thanks for the reminder. I've been using my own mass-based tweaked system with CT for so long I tend to forget. Now that I'm moving to an OTU with MongTrav I'll definitely want to keep this in mind.