Single operator ship

[BigDogsRunning]

This may be listed somewhere. I think I've seen it, but can't find it now. If you know where this stuff is listed, in what book, it would answer the question if you could just post that.

What can a single skilled operator do on-board a non-cockpit equipped ship, a Scout ship, for instance?

If combat occurs, can a single person fight the ship?

What negative mods would they take for trying to fill several positions?

What actions could they take, or not take?

 

[AnotherDilbert]

Start with Crew Duties, p154.

Also Attack Step, p156,

Weapons on board a spacecraft are fired by Travellers assigned to gunner duty. However, a pilot may fire any weapons that are noted as being in fixed mounts ...

Multiple Tasks, p59:

A Traveller can try to do two or more things at once, like firing a spacecraft’s weapons while also flying, or disarming a bomb while hiding from guards. For every extra thing the Traveller is doing, the level of difficulty for each task is made one level harder.

Also note that a single person can only be at a single place at a time and it takes a whole round to change duty station, action "Reassingment", p161.


So, a fighter jock that is flying, firing guns, and actively operating the sensors would roll all tasks as two levels more difficult.

 

[AnotherDilbert]

By RAW a single operator in a Scout would have to choose from being on the bridge or in the turret firing weapons.

 

[Condottiere]

You can head for the turret, or go overclcock the engines.

 

[BigDogsRunning]

By RAW a single operator in a Scout would have to choose from being on the bridge or in the turret firing weapons.

Except that hasn't it been defined multiple times that you don't have to be "in" the turret.

Also, isn't that what holographic controls are for?

Core Book pg.178
While multiple
crew positions are technically required, it is
standard practice for a scout to be crewed
by just one or two highly skilled individuals
who understand the requirements needed
for self-sufficiency.

 

[AnotherDilbert]

Except that hasn't it been defined multiple times that you don't have to be "in" the turret.

I would say it has not been defined, allowing everyone to assume what they want...

RAW has this to say:

Weapons on board a spacecraft are fired by Travellers assigned to gunner duty.

Turret Gunner: Each turret has its own gunner. A Traveller must choose which turret he is manning at the start of the combat.

This might mean that the gunner sits in the turret, or at a dedicated workstation in a fire control centre.

I assume that small civilian ships do not have centralised fire control, but rely on the turrets themselves, harking back to LBB2.

Reassignment (Any)
Any Traveller may elect to change their assigned duty instead of performing any other action. They do nothing else in this round but will have adopted their new duty in the following round.

I would hardly take six minutes to change duty, if that simply involved flicking a switch on your workstation.

Ships of less than 1,000 tons can, in theory, be run by just one or two multi-skilled people, but the ship will be at a serious disadvantage in high-stress situations such as combat. The crewman acting as pilot will likely be kept busy in the cockpit, actually flying the ship, while the other will find his attention split between engineering, damage control and the weapon systems – a quick look at the Crew Duties section in the Traveller Core Rulebook (page 154) will quickly demonstrate how inefficient this will prove to be.

This at least hint that not all crew duties are performed on the bridge.

 

[Reynard]

One thing I keep seeing (or not seeing) on deck plans is where the dedicated tonnage for each weapon hardpoint is. There's usually a ladder and hatch symbol leading to the external turret, barbette or bay. That half hemisphere does not match the tonnage of the system. Is the gunner actually squeezed into that already packed bubble? I always have a one ton+ space located internally below the hardpoint area for a possible gunner plus other components to serve the turret. as well as ammo holds adjacent to this. I wish I could remember at the moment which source I have seen featuring an illustration of a weapon space with a gunner station below the turret.

Since you can have Fire Control or Virtual Gunner software operate a weapon remotely, I see no reason the actual gunner station must be part of the turret. Why not a gunner's chair located near the bridge? Only time the gunner needs to be physically at the turret is if they need to manually reload ammunition.

 

[baithammer]

Vehicles 2ed small and large turret provides some insight for how things could be distributed.

A small turret is
a simple pod that contains only the weapon and any
electronics required to fire it, controlled from a remote
station within the vehicle.

A small turret costs Cr10000 for every Space of installed
weaponry, plus the cost of the weapons installed, and
consumes one Space within the vehicle itself.
A small turret can hold up to 4 Spaces of weapons.

A large turret can mount much bulkier weapons and has
enough space within for crew to operate it.

A large turret costs Cr25000 for every Space of installed
weaponry, plus the cost of the weapons installed, and
consumes four Spaces within the vehicle itself, plus one
Space for each crewman the turret can contain (small
turrets are effectively ‘bolted on’, while large turrets are
considered to be integral parts of the vehicle).

 

[Condottiere]

They defaulted it to one tonne, which obviously isn't enough.

If the turret has enough space for a human operator controlling it locally, than you have to design it around that workstation.

 

[AnotherDilbert]

They defaulted it to one tonne, which obviously isn't enough.

Not 1 tonne = 1000 kg, but 1 displacement ton = 14 m³.

1 Dton is roughly the size of a modern tank turret, where we can squeeze in several operators and a major weapon.

 

[AnotherDilbert]

Since you can have Fire Control or Virtual Gunner software operate a weapon remotely, I see no reason the actual gunner station must be part of the turret. Why not a gunner's chair located near the bridge?

You can do anything, but why would a civilian ship waste space and money on a fire control room that will probably never be used?

For the Free Trader market, a turret is a self-contained module requiring very little in the way of pre-existing support apart from a standardised socket and a power plug.

Warships would of course use centralised fire control, but that is an entirely different market. They might still require a workstation in the turret as a backup in case of battle damage.

 

[Condottiere]

For a commercial corporation, automation is cheaper.

For a free trader, having an actual crew member provides flexibility.