In My Traveller Universe, I use Scouts as a sort of good will monitoring system of low population worlds that are not really on the main routes for merchant activity. Their small cargo capacity limits them from handling high needs shipping, but their constant patrolling of the worlds where they put in to keep tabs on things, a finger on the pulse of the world so to speak, allows them to assist the subsector Duke in keeping informed of things happening within his subsector. They're not military, nor are they really government ships per se - they go where they go and report upon what they see. Even scouts who have left the service and flit about in their own scout ship as a mustering out benefit, are required to report on things they see where every they may go. Just seems to be a natural fit for me.
Ship Design Philosophy
- Thread starter Condottiere
- Start date
Condottiere
Emperor Mongoose
Starships: Cheapest Possible
A. Factor/one seems fairly common for commercial shipping.
B. For sub Terran gravity wells, that's enough to lift off.
C. And that allows you to keep the base technological level to nine.
D. Commercially, in the far majority of cases, there's very little point in having more than factor/three.
E. Which is base technological level ten.
F. Too bad for a factor one plus that would one able to lift off from any colonized world, you'd need technological level ten.
A. Factor/one seems fairly common for commercial shipping.
B. For sub Terran gravity wells, that's enough to lift off.
C. And that allows you to keep the base technological level to nine.
D. Commercially, in the far majority of cases, there's very little point in having more than factor/three.
E. Which is base technological level ten.
F. Too bad for a factor one plus that would one able to lift off from any colonized world, you'd need technological level ten.
Condottiere
Emperor Mongoose
Starships: Cheapest Possible
G. Decided to look up reactionary rockets factor/zero.
H. Reaction 0 drives require 0.25 tons of fuel per hour of Thrust.
I. Probably means percent, not actual volume.
J. The actual thing needs one percent volume, and costs one fifth of a megastarbux per tonne.
K. Seems the cheaper option, for something that's used rarely.
G. Decided to look up reactionary rockets factor/zero.
H. Reaction 0 drives require 0.25 tons of fuel per hour of Thrust.
I. Probably means percent, not actual volume.
J. The actual thing needs one percent volume, and costs one fifth of a megastarbux per tonne.
K. Seems the cheaper option, for something that's used rarely.
Condottiere
Emperor Mongoose
Starships: Cheapest Possible
This may have consolidated a concept I've had in mind for years.
If only for cargo carriers.
This may have consolidated a concept I've had in mind for years.
If only for cargo carriers.
Condottiere
Emperor Mongoose
Starships: Cheapest Possible
L. The thing about cargo holds and fuel tanks is while they look like they're free, you still allocate the per tonne hull cost to the volume they take up.
M. It's quite easy to attach cargo pods to the exterior of the hull, with all the added complications that entails.
N. Or, drop tanks, with specialized mounts that allow the fuel direct access to the jump drives.
O. But, it seems we can maintain structural integrity by leaving a hole in the middle of a spacecraft.
P. And, could weld both ends shut, creating additional volume, without paying for it, with the exceptions of the welding and the welded plating.
L. The thing about cargo holds and fuel tanks is while they look like they're free, you still allocate the per tonne hull cost to the volume they take up.
M. It's quite easy to attach cargo pods to the exterior of the hull, with all the added complications that entails.
N. Or, drop tanks, with specialized mounts that allow the fuel direct access to the jump drives.
O. But, it seems we can maintain structural integrity by leaving a hole in the middle of a spacecraft.
P. And, could weld both ends shut, creating additional volume, without paying for it, with the exceptions of the welding and the welded plating.
Condottiere
Emperor Mongoose
Starships: Cheapest Possible
Q. You could use it for fuel storage, but lacking the requisite plumbing that a dedicated fuel tank would have, not for the jump drive.
R. If you layer it like a cake, you could insert round disks between each, and that becomes a deck.
S. Being vacuum proof, you could also pump air into each gap.
T. I guess, it could also be the basis of a cheap O'Neill cylinder.
U. Though, my original idea was to act as a protected hangar.
Q. You could use it for fuel storage, but lacking the requisite plumbing that a dedicated fuel tank would have, not for the jump drive.
R. If you layer it like a cake, you could insert round disks between each, and that becomes a deck.
S. Being vacuum proof, you could also pump air into each gap.
T. I guess, it could also be the basis of a cheap O'Neill cylinder.
U. Though, my original idea was to act as a protected hangar.
Condottiere
Emperor Mongoose
Starships: Cheapest Possible
V. Plasma drive requires one percent of volume to create one twentieth of a thrust factor.
W. That doesn't reflect on whether you can make a smaller sized drive, but does indicate as to the minimum thrust a drive could produce.
X. For a manoeuvre drive, that means you could load up so much tonnage, until the (default) ratio of manoeuvre drive to volume can be one to two thousand.
Y. You can probably do less, but this provides a rather solid basis for the case of factor oh point oh five.
Z. In theory, you could install one of these on spacestations, but I rather suspect the factor/zeros are more strategically placed to reorientate smoothly, as opposed to getting pushed in one direction.
V. Plasma drive requires one percent of volume to create one twentieth of a thrust factor.
W. That doesn't reflect on whether you can make a smaller sized drive, but does indicate as to the minimum thrust a drive could produce.
X. For a manoeuvre drive, that means you could load up so much tonnage, until the (default) ratio of manoeuvre drive to volume can be one to two thousand.
Y. You can probably do less, but this provides a rather solid basis for the case of factor oh point oh five.
Z. In theory, you could install one of these on spacestations, but I rather suspect the factor/zeros are more strategically placed to reorientate smoothly, as opposed to getting pushed in one direction.
Condottiere
Emperor Mongoose
Starships: Cheapest Possible
1. Operating cost wise, you can't really beat a gravitationally motivated drive.
2. Everything else eats gas, in prodigious amounts.
3. And, the alternates also take up more equivalent volume.
4. For commercial shipping, I wouldn't invest in high burn thrusters for possible use in combat.
5. However, temporary use to escape high gravity wells does seem viable.
6. It's canonical that labelling a reactionary rocket propulsion system as high burn thruster will stack acceleration.
7. Plasma drive, who knows?
8. Is worth installing one in commercial shipping?
9. Probably not, since most colonized planets tend to be smaller than Terra.
1. Operating cost wise, you can't really beat a gravitationally motivated drive.
2. Everything else eats gas, in prodigious amounts.
3. And, the alternates also take up more equivalent volume.
4. For commercial shipping, I wouldn't invest in high burn thrusters for possible use in combat.
5. However, temporary use to escape high gravity wells does seem viable.
6. It's canonical that labelling a reactionary rocket propulsion system as high burn thruster will stack acceleration.
7. Plasma drive, who knows?
8. Is worth installing one in commercial shipping?
9. Probably not, since most colonized planets tend to be smaller than Terra.
Condottiere
Emperor Mongoose
Starships: Cheapest Possible
A. Going by one of those Traveller supplements, ideal gravitational living conditions are between seventy to one hundred forty percent Terran norm gravity.
B. If you have plenty of time, factor one and a half thrust will eventually get you into orbit.
C. All things considered, factor/three is the optimal acceleration to lift off from Terra.
D. Manoeuvre drive factor/one, difference of factor/two would be four percent reactionary rocket, and two to five percent fuel.
E. It's sort of implied that going faster than factor/three, requires heat shielding.
F. Presumably, Terran atmosphere equivalent.
A. Going by one of those Traveller supplements, ideal gravitational living conditions are between seventy to one hundred forty percent Terran norm gravity.
B. If you have plenty of time, factor one and a half thrust will eventually get you into orbit.
C. All things considered, factor/three is the optimal acceleration to lift off from Terra.
D. Manoeuvre drive factor/one, difference of factor/two would be four percent reactionary rocket, and two to five percent fuel.
E. It's sort of implied that going faster than factor/three, requires heat shielding.
F. Presumably, Terran atmosphere equivalent.
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Condottiere
Emperor Mongoose
Starships: Cheapest Possible
G. Factor three requires one round to reach orbit, and supposedly another half round to escape from it, assuming Terran norm.
H. If we break up fuel consumption, default, that's three quarters of a percent, plus four percent, is four and three quarters percent of hull volume.
I. Factor two requires two rounds to reach orbit, one round escape; two percent reactionary rockets, plus three quarters percent fuel, total two and three quarters percent.
J. Factor one and half requires four rounds to reach orbit, two rounds to escape; one percent reactionary rocket, plus three quarters percent fuel, total one and three quarters percent.
K. Factor one and a quarter requires eight rounds to reach orbit, four rounds to escape; half a percent reactionary rocket, plus three quarters percent fuel, total one and three quarters percent.
G. Factor three requires one round to reach orbit, and supposedly another half round to escape from it, assuming Terran norm.
H. If we break up fuel consumption, default, that's three quarters of a percent, plus four percent, is four and three quarters percent of hull volume.
I. Factor two requires two rounds to reach orbit, one round escape; two percent reactionary rockets, plus three quarters percent fuel, total two and three quarters percent.
J. Factor one and half requires four rounds to reach orbit, two rounds to escape; one percent reactionary rocket, plus three quarters percent fuel, total one and three quarters percent.
K. Factor one and a quarter requires eight rounds to reach orbit, four rounds to escape; half a percent reactionary rocket, plus three quarters percent fuel, total one and three quarters percent.
