Okay, say your group wants to sell their starship...

[Terry Mixon]

It is nice that you have a solution for your Traveller universe; but no 'starter' ships come with docking clamps -- nor is it clear that an airlock is included with a clamp. Plus there are some other disadvantages to clamps:

If you look a bit earlier in the Ask Mongoose Matt thread they have clarified that the docking clamps come with hatches that allow access to the carried vessels.

 

[Terry Mixon]

You can always modify the smallcraft, to attach a jump drive (and fuel) module.

Except for they pesky 100-ton minimum for a jump-capable ship.

 

[Condottiere]

Simplest variant is a ninety five tonne shuttle, and five tonnes of external cargo.

 

[Terry Mixon]

Simplest variant is a ninety five tonne shuttle, and five tonnes of external cargo.

I wouldn’t say external cargo counts toward the 100-ton jump limitation in the rules. After all, it might not be there every time.

 

[Condottiere]

Everything counts, as long as it's enclosed volume.

My homemade rule regarding this, is that a final variable of one percent of expected volume won't affect the transition.

You don't want a drifting basketball to make your starship misjump, just because it drifted into the range of the jump bubble, just before the jump drive is kickstarted.

 

[swordtart]

And the smallcraft crew has to buy cabin tickets on your ship on top of that, because most small craft are not suited for week long habitation. Cabin space is basically just a business or maybe first class airline seat. That's fine for a day or so, but not so great for a week.

Generally yes. Occasionally Space RVs will have a stateroom fitted, but even then the passengers might want to take advantage of better facilities or just hang around in your bar area on occasion.

Working vessels might not bother. Even a launch has plenty of room for a full stateroom plus a workshop and almost 5 DTons of storage enabling a couple to spend the otherwise wasted week in jump turning raw materials into craft products which they can then sell in the new system making replacements as they go. Once the market is exhausted they can jump to a new system. A similar setup might apply to travelling archologists or research scientists. Small craft could also allow you to travel the planet as it is quicker to travel to the other side of even small planets ballistically than by ground transport.

Even my small craft intended for medium term operation (days at a time) will have a barracks style (1 DTON) room adjacent to the bridge so in theory you could just camp out in your craft for the week, but it would be really really boring. I doubt you could even study productively in such a confining environment unless you were exceptionally disciplined.

There is plenty of scope for the players in this as well (or even a party of thespians). Each week a new city or even world, every month another system. It makes it easier to believe there might be a random patron each week if you are moving about than if you are in the same spot.

 

[Terry Mixon]

Everything counts, as long as it's enclosed volume.

My homemade rule regarding this, is that a final variable of one percent of expected volume won't affect the transition.

You don't want a drifting basketball to make your starship misjump, just because it drifted into the range of the jump bubble, just before the jump drive is kickstarted.

Does the jump drive still work without the external cargo? If so, it violates the rules even with the wiggle room. I personally don't have an objection to doing that, but it is a house rule.

 

[Terry Mixon]

Everything counts, as long as it's enclosed volume.

My homemade rule regarding this, is that a final variable of one percent of expected volume won't affect the transition.

You don't want a drifting basketball to make your starship misjump, just because it drifted into the range of the jump bubble, just before the jump drive is kickstarted.

95 tones is 5%, not 1.

 

[Condottiere]

Five percent would be pushing it.

No, the one percent variance is for stuff, that for one reason or another, gets caught up in the transition, and at the other end, if the starship has a few dents that make it less than the expected volume.

The external cargo is the simplest way to increase volume, and you could take a forty foot container just as well, and have it welded on the hull.

Now, my personal take on the ruling, besides voiding the jump torpedo trap, is that it's transition needs a minimum default hundred tonne enclosed volume, within the created jump bubble, in order to stabilize it.

Nothing has ever been mentioned that the volume need be directly attached to the jump drive.

 

[Terry Mixon]

Five percent would be pushing it.

No, the one percent variance is for stuff, that for one reason or another, gets caught up in the transition, and at the other end, if the starship has a few dents that make it less than the expected volume.

The external cargo is the simplest way to increase volume, and you could take a forty foot container just as well, and have it welded on the hull.

Now, my personal take on the ruling, besides voiding the jump torpedo trap, is that it's transition needs a minimum default hundred tonne enclosed volume, within the created jump bubble, in order to stabilize it.

Nothing has ever been mentioned that the volume need be directly attached to the jump drive.

The exact rule is this:

The first step in designing a ship is to build its hull. This is the body of the ship, its fuselage. Decide on the total tonnage of the ship. The size of the hull affects the performance of the ship and, ultimately, limits what it can carry and achieve. A hull must be a minimum of five tons and jump-capable ships must be at least 100 tons. For ease of calculation, use round numbers; for example, 400 tons, not 425.

It's clear on the hull being the yardstick, not the total displacement.

As I've stated before, I cheerfully ignore the minimum size rule and could be persuaded to do the same to the jump size limitation, but its definitely a house rule.

 

[Fluffy Bunny Feet]

50 ton jump ship with a 50 ton drop tank they carry through jump. Gives you a jump fighter that when the tank is dropped doubles its acceleration. Of course if someone wants to get rid of you and has it drop the tank in jump space there will be no way to prove it.

Two 50 ton breakaway hulls. Same thing, 1 all fuel, dropped off to be refuelled while the 50 ton main part goes about its business. Jump 5 courier. Could even pickup another fuel hull and jump back while others are collecting the first fuel hull.

 

[Condottiere]

And then you have all sorts of stuff that you clamp or attach to the primary hull.

Attachment issues aside, if some other enclosed volume, or part thereof, that is unaccounted for, is within the range of the jump bubble when the starship goes down the rabbit hole, that goes with it, and affects the final total volume.

 

[rinku]

As a point... a Small Craft could be the vessel that has the docking clamp, right? And thus hitch a ride on any ship with excess jump capacity (i.e. a J-2 one making a J-1). It would need to be at least a Class III one (10 tons), so not practical for a very small boat.

 

[mavikfelna]

50 ton jump ship with a 50 ton drop tank they carry through jump. Gives you a jump fighter that when the tank is dropped doubles its acceleration. Of course if someone wants to get rid of you and has it drop the tank in jump space there will be no way to prove it.

Two 50 ton breakaway hulls. Same thing, 1 all fuel, dropped off to be refuelled while the 50 ton main part goes about its business. Jump 5 courier. Could even pickup another fuel hull and jump back while others are collecting the first fuel hull.

What about the secondary hull contains the jump drive and associated fuel? Make it a universal jump collar.

 

[Saladman]

3) Your players are dumb enough to take the small boat instead of the ship shares if they know the crew is getting a ship that can't take it.

... two players getting different starships (T:NE's mechanics nicely prevented that) and if there isn't some other PC ship in the mix, the ship's boat isn't a problem at all.

I'm still running the 1e-ism of the group gets a starship (maybe), and ship shares and ship name results all get combined towards that. In the hypothetical of one PC getting two Free Trader results, one a single Lab Ship result, and a third a ship's boat, we'd draw up a ship with cargo space, improved sensors and a lab, and a berthing space for the small craft.

Which is not RAW anymore, I'm aware. The current "one player gets a ship, everyone else gets a minor consolation prize" has the advantage of being simpler, faster and not assigning homework, but it clearly impacts the game and the group dynamic in ways I'm not sure were intended. I wish the old method was at least mentioned in a sidebar.

As a point... a Small Craft could be the vessel that has the docking clamp, right?

That's a judgement call, though. I see how a larger ship clamps onto a smaller one, but how and where does the smaller ship clamp onto the bigger one? Maybe it does, but "not explicitly forbidden in the rules" isn't probative in a ruleset known to trend to the generic.

Or between a blanket yes and blanket no, maybe a small craft can bring it's own docking clamp to the party but every latch on needs an airlock, so they're not just trying to grab onto a large flat surface at random, or bending some sensor array that wasn't built to bear loads under thrust.

 

[J. L. Brown]

50 ton jump ship with a 50 ton drop tank they carry through jump. Gives you a jump fighter that when the tank is dropped doubles its acceleration. Of course if someone wants to get rid of you and has it drop the tank in jump space there will be no way to prove it.

Two 50 ton breakaway hulls. Same thing, 1 all fuel, dropped off to be refuelled while the 50 ton main part goes about its business. Jump 5 courier. Could even pickup another fuel hull and jump back while others are collecting the first fuel hull.

A 100 dTon Breakaway Hull; with Jump Drive & fuel in one section, and all the 'mission' equipment in the other might work. Design the drop-able 'Jump' section without a Bridge by using Virtual Crew; all the non-Virtualizable crew ride in the other hull. If you are aiming for 50 dTons exactly, you might be able to get J-4 ...

Here:
TL-15
J-4 drive (for 100 dTon capacity; 2x Decreased fuel); 15 dTons
Fuel for 1x J-4; 31 dTons (requires an additional 5 dTons of fuel from the other hull)
High Efficiency Batteries (Increase Power; Size Reduction; 40 power); 0.55 dTons
Core/40 (Retro; 0.71 MCr at TL-15)
Breakaway Mechanism (the other dTon is in the other hull); 1 dTon
10 Power worth of Fusion Reactor; 0.5 dTons
Reactor Fuel (28 days); 0.14 dTons
M-2 Drive (Sized for a 50 dTon capacity; 3x Energy Efficient, uses 2.5 Power); 1 dTons
Fuel scoop (no tonnage, free with streamlining)
Fuel Purification Plant (15 dTons per day); 0.75 dTons
0.06 dTons of ship supplies

[Edit:] After being dropped in the Destination System, the Jump-hull autonomously scoops fuel; two days, ten hours, thirty six minutes after that the tanks & battery are full, and it is ready to go again.
[Edit of the Edit:] Arrgh! I forgot the stupid % of hull +5 dTons for the Jump Drive! Back to the drawing board!
[/Edit of the Edit]
[/Edit]

[Edit 3] Realized the problem I ran into above is easily solvable -- require the other hull to supply the last few dTons of fuel[/Edit 3]

 

[Fluffy Bunny Feet]

What about the secondary hull contains the jump drive and associated fuel? Make it a universal jump collar.

I've been considering that for Express boats. Haven't written one up yet though. A high g tug takes it to the Xpress boat they detach and attach the fresh one. The Xpress boat jumps while the high g tug takes the drive section off for check out and refuelling. Pony Xpress style.

 

[Vormaerin]

I'm still running the 1e-ism of the group gets a starship (maybe), and ship shares and ship name results all get combined towards that. In the hypothetical of one PC getting two Free Trader results, one a single Lab Ship result, and a third a ship's boat, we'd draw up a ship with cargo space, improved sensors and a lab, and a berthing space for the small craft.

That's how T:NE does it. Everyone gets ship shares that are DMs on a ship table (set of ship tables, actually) and you pool your shares and roll. I like it a lot, actually.

 

[rinku]

I just realised we already have an example of a smaller vessel clamping a larger one. The Jump Shuttle is 200tons and it can operate at J-1 and Thrust-1 while clamping a vessel up to 400 tons. So that side of things is not in question.

There may be a question as to whether the ship with the jump drive HAS to be the one with the clamps. But I'm not seeing any explicit rule, and there's no logical reason why the machinery to secure the connection couldn't be carried on the boat.

Maybe a customs cutter? Have a module with a 10 ton class III clamp, a single turret on a firmpoint, maybe some serious sensors for scanning ships, plus troop accommodations. Maybe a forced linkage apparatus as well. Use that to board, then after the ship is secure, clamp it and potentially fly the ship plus Cutter away.

 

[Fluffy Bunny Feet]

The Annic Nova is a ship that attached to a smaller ship which then propels the larger one.

I'm working on some lab ships (and Hospital ship conversions) based on the 360 ton HG2022 Lab ship, some of which will have the smaller ship be the M-Drive for the larger ship. The larger ship might be described as a Jump Station as it can jump on its own but it only has station keeping drives and needs its smaller companion craft to move at 1g. Some at least will be non gravity hulls.

Minor edit:. I'm also planning for some Lab ships to get radiation shielding and/or heat shielding so they can go places other labs ships can't. Some Hospital ships might get the radiation shielding but I don't see much reason for the heat shielding.