Over in the High Guard play Test area a post I made had an unexpected result...well unexpected by me.
It seems that the option of Jump Drive on small craft might be an option..so I sat down and did some number crunching.
and had a pic around I had been saving...so this was the result. I thought I'd post the final product here , as well as over on Play test side to get some feedback/first impressions. I waskind of hoping to see what people thought of it's usefulness for players, and it's practicality ( which is very limited I'll admit)
50 Ton: Eagle class Jump craft
A small, swift craft designed for the adventurous who wish to travel, or require rapid access to inter system transport at a moments notice.The craft sees service among nobles, businessmen, scouts, and as a light courier, dispatch runner for various groups.
while fragile, and easily damaged compared to full starship. The eagle class has the raw speed to outpace any starship, and sufficient defensive armaments to blunt attacks by similar sized craft. Its power plant can provide power to all it's systems at once allowing it to fire, maneuver, and prepare for a jump at the same time. Making it a fairly difficult craft to corner, or capture.
Usually only seen in more civilized sectors, it is not for the easily bored, or pleasure seeker, the small cabin, and sitting area do not offer much in the way of comfort, or recreational spaces. it does have enough room to allow some minor alteration to it's cabin for a bit more comfort, but this comes at the expense of it's cramped luggage area.
Some security forces do use the Eagle as a fast transport, or pursuit vehicle to carry law enforcement agents, and alert neighboring systems to be on the look out for wanted fugitives. In addition it can be used as light escort for merchant ships in place of it's normal cutter. Although it lacks the useful cargo space of a standard cutter.
a somewhat slower, version the "Sparrow", reduces it's engine size, and armor to wedge in a slightly larger cargo area allowing it to act as a mail boat, for areas away from the normal X-boat lines. This version however is extremely vulnerable to attack do to it's slow acceleration, and lack of protective armor.
A militarized version" Hawk" trades the stateroom and common area for a single cramped, barracks, style sleeping area, for additional space for sensors, and storage for additional ordnance. and armor, this version is used as a light patrol/scout fighter, or as an inspection craft for various enforcement and regulatory agencies.
So there ya have it..It seems to benefit from the high ration of Jump drive to tonnage required y the rules. Since at any tech level it is going to have the maximum jump range possible at that tech level.( up to TL-18
however cargo space, armor, and other systems are lacking...it has enough spare tonnage for more armor, but no matter how thick the armor gets it will still be an easy kill for a starship.
so basically This build comes out as a very fast personal transport/fighter...with room for a passenger and luggage.
what I have noticed in playing around is that as tonnage goes up...you get much more spare room inside.. due to the math involved Jump performance does not drop off radically. at 100 tons the 10 ton minimum of jump drive still give the J-3 range..and thrust drops to M-5, still faster than most starships...but not fast enough to outrun fighters/missiles.
the onl real downside is that weapons suffer greatly..since they are still classed as smallcraft all it can mount are firm point weapons with greatly reduced ranges...
on the upside it can go into close maneuvering combat with a starship, which greatly increases it's odds of survival due to the DMs starships suffer in a dogfight. so in most cases it might be better for the pilot to turn into an attack, close range and stay inside the dogfight envelope with a starship....assuming it can get into that range zone before a shot gets through.
of course it could always power down, play like it's giving up, then power up once an enemy is close enough...if it mounted it's weapons in pop up turrets it could even pass for unarmed ship, until the enemy vessel was right next to it.
or in the worst case scenario for the starship..."oh look their opening up the cargo bay to take us prisoner....how polite"
AndrewW said:
It seems that the option of Jump Drive on small craft might be an option..so I sat down and did some number crunching.
and had a pic around I had been saving...so this was the result. I thought I'd post the final product here , as well as over on Play test side to get some feedback/first impressions. I waskind of hoping to see what people thought of it's usefulness for players, and it's practicality ( which is very limited I'll admit)
50 Ton: Eagle class Jump craft
A small, swift craft designed for the adventurous who wish to travel, or require rapid access to inter system transport at a moments notice.The craft sees service among nobles, businessmen, scouts, and as a light courier, dispatch runner for various groups.
while fragile, and easily damaged compared to full starship. The eagle class has the raw speed to outpace any starship, and sufficient defensive armaments to blunt attacks by similar sized craft. Its power plant can provide power to all it's systems at once allowing it to fire, maneuver, and prepare for a jump at the same time. Making it a fairly difficult craft to corner, or capture.
Usually only seen in more civilized sectors, it is not for the easily bored, or pleasure seeker, the small cabin, and sitting area do not offer much in the way of comfort, or recreational spaces. it does have enough room to allow some minor alteration to it's cabin for a bit more comfort, but this comes at the expense of it's cramped luggage area.
Some security forces do use the Eagle as a fast transport, or pursuit vehicle to carry law enforcement agents, and alert neighboring systems to be on the look out for wanted fugitives. In addition it can be used as light escort for merchant ships in place of it's normal cutter. Although it lacks the useful cargo space of a standard cutter.
a somewhat slower, version the "Sparrow", reduces it's engine size, and armor to wedge in a slightly larger cargo area allowing it to act as a mail boat, for areas away from the normal X-boat lines. This version however is extremely vulnerable to attack do to it's slow acceleration, and lack of protective armor.
A militarized version" Hawk" trades the stateroom and common area for a single cramped, barracks, style sleeping area, for additional space for sensors, and storage for additional ordnance. and armor, this version is used as a light patrol/scout fighter, or as an inspection craft for various enforcement and regulatory agencies.
So there ya have it..It seems to benefit from the high ration of Jump drive to tonnage required y the rules. Since at any tech level it is going to have the maximum jump range possible at that tech level.( up to TL-18
however cargo space, armor, and other systems are lacking...it has enough spare tonnage for more armor, but no matter how thick the armor gets it will still be an easy kill for a starship.
so basically This build comes out as a very fast personal transport/fighter...with room for a passenger and luggage.
what I have noticed in playing around is that as tonnage goes up...you get much more spare room inside.. due to the math involved Jump performance does not drop off radically. at 100 tons the 10 ton minimum of jump drive still give the J-3 range..and thrust drops to M-5, still faster than most starships...but not fast enough to outrun fighters/missiles.
the onl real downside is that weapons suffer greatly..since they are still classed as smallcraft all it can mount are firm point weapons with greatly reduced ranges...
on the upside it can go into close maneuvering combat with a starship, which greatly increases it's odds of survival due to the DMs starships suffer in a dogfight. so in most cases it might be better for the pilot to turn into an attack, close range and stay inside the dogfight envelope with a starship....assuming it can get into that range zone before a shot gets through.
of course it could always power down, play like it's giving up, then power up once an enemy is close enough...if it mounted it's weapons in pop up turrets it could even pass for unarmed ship, until the enemy vessel was right next to it.
or in the worst case scenario for the starship..."oh look their opening up the cargo bay to take us prisoner....how polite"
