Referee's Aid 3: Type-A Free Trader

[phavoc]

I first saw "Free Trader Beowulf" on a deluxe boxed Traveller set. The ship name has been around since the beginning of Traveller. Beowulf is not the ship class. One could argue that Free Trader is a label and NOT a ship class, but I think that would be a relatively weak argument that focuses on a miniscule aspect of the wording. The books clearly point out the deck plans and state "This is a Free Trader", and they are usually operated by merchants, who also get labeled traders, and since they are often freelance merchants, "free traders" could conceivably be applied to the ship as well. But that is a torturous way of trying to prove a point, and one that has very little merit except to rules lawyers.

The idea of a "Free Trader" looking like the Free Trader in the book also originates in the very beginning of Traveller. Applying a Type A designation indicates a specific amount of information attached to the ship. That's how naval terminology has originated, and remains today. And yes, there can be variations within the type (A VLCC doesn't have a maximum size just a minimum. A Panamax freighter actually does specific dimensions).

The issue here is that the Type A Free Trader has remained more or less constant since the very beginning, across all versions. Labels are important because they convey specific meanings. If I designed my 200Dton Free Trader and it was 250m long, wouldn't I be incorrect by trying to say "No, it's a Type A Free Trader. See, it has the same stats as the one in the book, therefore it's the same". But I would be incorrect in doing so. And this isn't fan work. It's canonical material published by a company that holds a license to publish Traveller material. And by default when they publish it the material becomes canon - at least within the MGT Traveller universe.

So when the venerable and already documented Far Trader gets a deck plan makeover, but retains the same name, then yes, it should be considered natural that people are going to question such a thing and point out the disparity between labels. Of course there could be modifications of the standard Free Trader hull and turn it into a Far Trader. But that's not the point of all this. The point is that both the Free Trader hull form and innards and the Far Trader have been established since CT. This entire issue has the hallmarks of an editorial "oops" that can be easily fixed if that is so desired.

 

[GypsyComet]

The idea of a "Free Trader" looking like the Free Trader in the book also originates in the very beginning of Traveller.

The "flat iron" Free Trader in Snapshot pre-dates the now-iconic Beo art by quite a bit. So does the sleek and pointy JG version. The Marava had its definitive art first, courtesy of the Keiths.

The idea that there were multiple examples within a Type cropped up early, when the Broadswoard was first introduced as "essentially a Type C", only later becoming the iconic Type C. The idea appeared again with the Safari Ship, and the Marava section in Traders & Gunboats (CT) actually talks about what is different when the hull is built as a Type A instead of an A2. The idea is not new, nor is it a mistake. 11,000 worlds, and 11,000 years. The Vilani are unusually persistent to have maintained the Sandwich/Hero/Beo and the Akkigish (the Fat Trader) essentially unchanged for so long.

 

[phavoc]

I never played Snapshot, though I did look at the deckplans and they are similar to what was later published (for the Type A - also the Scout). It would appear that not a lot of thought was put into them, but they are close enough that the smaller things would not matter for playing out a boarding scenario.

Snapshot came out in 79, and Traders and Gunboats in 80. I am not sure when the first Type A deckplans came out. And I had totally forgotten about JG issuing their versions of the vessels (looking at them now you have to have a good laugh). Their Type A trader is like a slim-downed version of the standard Fat Trader.

I did find the section in Traders and Gunboats that listed the variations of the Far Trader (Type A2) - "Nonetheless, some of these ships can be encountered; they are externally identical to the type A2." So here the book is saying you have a Far Trader that is essentially a Free Trader, (i.e. an A2 that operates as an A), but it still looks like an A2.

So I do see where your explanation is coming from. It's a fair argument and your point is valid. Though I still lean towards this whole thing being an editorial mistake because Traders and Gunboats specifically calls out the variation, and the new supplement does not.

 

[GypsyComet]

Snapshot came out in 79, and Traders and Gunboats in 80. I am not sure when the first Type A deckplans came out.

Based explicitly on the Beo external look? MegaTraveller, and specifically the DGP book Starship Operator's Manual, Vol. 1 in 1988.

 

[phavoc]

No, just the internal layout.

 

[GypsyComet]

The examples list is short: Snapshot -> SOpM. The ships between are either not that layout (JG's Type A and FASA's Alexandria and Fanzhienzh) or are the Marava A2.

The adventures of the day used a Marava or the Type R if they needed a trader. The Beo Type A was only external art, and just a thumbnail or two in TTB and Starter at that. The Beo Type A did not get heavy use in publication until MegaTraveller, where it was an artist favorite.