AnotherDilbert
Emperor Mongoose
Geir said:
Yes, that works fine, too.
The Beyond: A Revision
- Thread starter Geir
- Start date
Yes, that works fine, too.
Geir
Emperor Mongoose
Frustrating day for me, including editing my own stuff.
Apparently when I did the Mapepire Subsector I was king of the run-on sentence.
I blame medication.
Here is a link to a complete update for subsector A with new map (previously posted) new ship deck plans (ditto) and new images showing the worlds and ship design in a new format.
What do you guys think here, should I start a new thread with these updates or keep posting in this one (or just plain shut up).
https://geirlanesskog.com/mapepire-subsector-a/
Apparently when I did the Mapepire Subsector I was king of the run-on sentence.
I blame medication.
Here is a link to a complete update for subsector A with new map (previously posted) new ship deck plans (ditto) and new images showing the worlds and ship design in a new format.
What do you guys think here, should I start a new thread with these updates or keep posting in this one (or just plain shut up).
https://geirlanesskog.com/mapepire-subsector-a/
AnotherDilbert
Emperor Mongoose
Do whatever is easiest for you. Perhaps just edit the broken links in this thread.
I can delete my complaint-posts, I think.
I can delete my complaint-posts, I think.
Geir
Emperor Mongoose
Hey it looks like the links from Blogger all fixed themselves!
I sort of went quiet on this thread, but I've still been working on The Beyond. My "little" source book is running 260+ pages and nearly 90,000 words with some equipment and patron encounters starting to trickle into it.
And ships! I've been redoing and checking all of them, with improved deck plans. About 20 done, 20 to go. But I keep adding stuff as I come up with new ideas. I've also done some non-controversial sectors: Fulani and Astron, which are now up on Travellermap. I suppose I should also be working on the traveller wiki to add in the twenty minor races I've trickled across those sectors....See, this is what happens when I save 10 hours of commuting time a week...
This ship wasn't planned. I was supposed to redo a light fighter that I had called a starfighter... but it's not a starship, see, so how can it be a star fighter? So now its a 100-ton starship fit for a knight. I basically wanted to see how ridiculous you could make a 100-ton ship at TL 12. I don't know how well it would hold up in a serious battle, but it's more a symbolic ship in many respects. I like the concept, but now I have to go back to my Storm Knights section and write a modified career, or at least modified naval career mustering out benefits.
Here's the Blogger link:
https://geirbloodaxe.blogspot.com/2020/05/storm-knight-starfighter-class-starship.html
But I'm duplicating the entire guts of it below:
Storm Knight Starfighter-class Starship
The Starfighter is a ship with a clear purpose, but it is difficult to categorize by conventional means. The 100-ton ship is designed to be the personal craft of a Storm Knight, but it has notably been described as a ship designed by Don Quixote. With heavy crystaliron armor and a silvery Reflec finish, the sleek arrow-shaped starship looks like a warcraft. A ridiculous quad turret armed with range-enhanced pulse lasers gives it significant punch, but despite a reinforced hull, it is only a 100-ton ship, and unlikely to survive long in battle. Carrying a full turret and targeting system the Starfighter is a true starship with a jump-2 drive, though it requires high capacity batteries to jump when the quad turret and 7g maneuver drive is operating. It can travel the stars, engage enemies from very long range, and roar through the atmosphere. In many ways it is superior to a fighter, but it extraordinarily expensive, with a base cost greater than MCr 100.
Technically requiring a crew of up to four, a Starfighter has only two staterooms and minimal living space. Automation, in the form of a sophisticated computer system and repair drones programmed for a variety of ship's roles, allows the ship to be operated by one or two individuals. Add-on expert systems and shipboard robots can allow even lone Storm Knights without specific starship skills to command their ships, though usually with poor performance.
Storm Knight war doctrine is to deploy Starfighters in wings of 40-60 ships, engaging the enemy at range, destroying enemy fighters before they can close, and pummeling major combatants with coordinated mass attacks. This has never been tested. In practice, fighting only scattered engagements against ihatei forces, Starfighters are deployed in small groups as light escort ships. Detached vessels provide escort and convoy support to civilian vessels. Mostly, the Starfighter acts as the ostentatious steed of a Storm Knight.
A Starfighter cannot be purchased. A Storm Knight who achieves the rank of Knight Commander, by Rank or by Deed, may receive a Starfighter in reserve duty, similar to an Imperial scout on detached duty. The Starfighter remains with that Knight for as long as the Knight remains on reserve, usually for as long as the Knight is willing and able to operate the ship. The Storm Knight's Order is responsible for annual maintenance and will provide fuel at Stormhaven starports, but the Storm Knight is responsible for routine monthly maintenance and life support costs. Repairs may be covered by the Order if damage is incurred "in the line of duty", which for a reserve Knight usually means any action that brings honor to the Order. Disreputable actions can cause the Order to revoke the privilege of operating a Starfighter, though only after a thorough review and appellate process.
To cover operating costs, Starfighters often undertake private escort and convoy missions or provide secure courier service for messages, small cargos, or a single passenger. In some backwater systems a single or a few Storm Knights form the system defense force, deterring piracy for an otherwise defensibly population. In regions dominated by Humaniti, Storm Knights and their Starfighters are often perceived as heroic, but in Aslan space, a Starfighter is not welcome and often fired upon without provocation or warning.
I sort of went quiet on this thread, but I've still been working on The Beyond. My "little" source book is running 260+ pages and nearly 90,000 words with some equipment and patron encounters starting to trickle into it.
And ships! I've been redoing and checking all of them, with improved deck plans. About 20 done, 20 to go. But I keep adding stuff as I come up with new ideas. I've also done some non-controversial sectors: Fulani and Astron, which are now up on Travellermap. I suppose I should also be working on the traveller wiki to add in the twenty minor races I've trickled across those sectors....See, this is what happens when I save 10 hours of commuting time a week...
This ship wasn't planned. I was supposed to redo a light fighter that I had called a starfighter... but it's not a starship, see, so how can it be a star fighter? So now its a 100-ton starship fit for a knight. I basically wanted to see how ridiculous you could make a 100-ton ship at TL 12. I don't know how well it would hold up in a serious battle, but it's more a symbolic ship in many respects. I like the concept, but now I have to go back to my Storm Knights section and write a modified career, or at least modified naval career mustering out benefits.
Here's the Blogger link:
https://geirbloodaxe.blogspot.com/2020/05/storm-knight-starfighter-class-starship.html
But I'm duplicating the entire guts of it below:
Storm Knight Starfighter-class Starship
The Starfighter is a ship with a clear purpose, but it is difficult to categorize by conventional means. The 100-ton ship is designed to be the personal craft of a Storm Knight, but it has notably been described as a ship designed by Don Quixote. With heavy crystaliron armor and a silvery Reflec finish, the sleek arrow-shaped starship looks like a warcraft. A ridiculous quad turret armed with range-enhanced pulse lasers gives it significant punch, but despite a reinforced hull, it is only a 100-ton ship, and unlikely to survive long in battle. Carrying a full turret and targeting system the Starfighter is a true starship with a jump-2 drive, though it requires high capacity batteries to jump when the quad turret and 7g maneuver drive is operating. It can travel the stars, engage enemies from very long range, and roar through the atmosphere. In many ways it is superior to a fighter, but it extraordinarily expensive, with a base cost greater than MCr 100.
Technically requiring a crew of up to four, a Starfighter has only two staterooms and minimal living space. Automation, in the form of a sophisticated computer system and repair drones programmed for a variety of ship's roles, allows the ship to be operated by one or two individuals. Add-on expert systems and shipboard robots can allow even lone Storm Knights without specific starship skills to command their ships, though usually with poor performance.
Storm Knight war doctrine is to deploy Starfighters in wings of 40-60 ships, engaging the enemy at range, destroying enemy fighters before they can close, and pummeling major combatants with coordinated mass attacks. This has never been tested. In practice, fighting only scattered engagements against ihatei forces, Starfighters are deployed in small groups as light escort ships. Detached vessels provide escort and convoy support to civilian vessels. Mostly, the Starfighter acts as the ostentatious steed of a Storm Knight.
A Starfighter cannot be purchased. A Storm Knight who achieves the rank of Knight Commander, by Rank or by Deed, may receive a Starfighter in reserve duty, similar to an Imperial scout on detached duty. The Starfighter remains with that Knight for as long as the Knight remains on reserve, usually for as long as the Knight is willing and able to operate the ship. The Storm Knight's Order is responsible for annual maintenance and will provide fuel at Stormhaven starports, but the Storm Knight is responsible for routine monthly maintenance and life support costs. Repairs may be covered by the Order if damage is incurred "in the line of duty", which for a reserve Knight usually means any action that brings honor to the Order. Disreputable actions can cause the Order to revoke the privilege of operating a Starfighter, though only after a thorough review and appellate process.
To cover operating costs, Starfighters often undertake private escort and convoy missions or provide secure courier service for messages, small cargos, or a single passenger. In some backwater systems a single or a few Storm Knights form the system defense force, deterring piracy for an otherwise defensibly population. In regions dominated by Humaniti, Storm Knights and their Starfighters are often perceived as heroic, but in Aslan space, a Starfighter is not welcome and often fired upon without provocation or warning.
Geir
Emperor Mongoose
Stayed up too late and wasted too much rainy Saturday making three Storm Knight careers. I even did double columns for part of it so it looks a lot like a Mongoose career page, but that didn't take in blogger. There is no good way to recreate the tables without doing a bunch of images, though, so I'm just going to link to the blog post:
https://geirbloodaxe.blogspot.com/2020/05/storm-knight-careers_9.html
(Hey Jeff, would this make a decent Freelance Traveller article.. after I do up the Katar and Mule worksheets and deckplans to go with the Starfighter?)
https://geirbloodaxe.blogspot.com/2020/05/storm-knight-careers_9.html
(Hey Jeff, would this make a decent Freelance Traveller article.. after I do up the Katar and Mule worksheets and deckplans to go with the Starfighter?)
Geir
Emperor Mongoose
And here we go. End of wild hair distraction; on to other things.
After all this, I really want a Mule. It would make a great ship for a grizzled, slightly "eccentric" belter.
Link to blog:
https://geirbloodaxe.blogspot.com/2020/05/the-katar-and-mule-two-very-different.html
Pretty much content of blog:
Storm Knight Katar-class Light Fighter
The Storm Knight's Katar-class light fighter is an old but reliable design notable for its shining Reflec anti-laser coating. While useful in recruiting posters, the Katar has proven inferior to the higher technology Aslan Taleryushi-class fighter at least in theory, though few actual encounters involve straight one-on-one fighter dogfights, and even in those, skill or luck often determines the outcome.
Still, for more than four centuries, the basic configuration of the Katar has remained unchanged. It is a heavily armored dual-seat silver arrowhead capable of 7g acceleration and high performance atmospheric flight. For system defense and escort duties, it is a perfectly adequate fighter, and the thousands of vehicles assigned to reserve Storm Knight flight officers have seen service across The Beyond and into neighboring sectors.
In a major battle, wings of Katar fighters might make a difference, but most Storm Knight tacticians prefer to utilize Sabre-class pinnaces in multi-function roles, including that of heavy fighter, rather than deploy light fighters likely to suffer heavy casualties.
Storm Knight Mule-class Utility Tug
The Mule-class utility tug is ubiquitous within the Stormhaven Republic and across much of The Beyond. The unassuming little ship is very expensive for a 20-ton vessel, but it would be incorrect to categorize it as a launch or a lifeboat. It is a utility craft equipped with everything, including, literally, a kitchen sink.
Equipped with powerful engines, the Mule can theoretically achieve 7g when carrying only its internal load. However, that is not its main function. Operating as a tug, it has a Type I docking clamp to allow it to attach other small vessels, external cargo mounts to carry an additional 60 tons of cargo, netting to secure another 120 tons, and a tow cable that allows theoretically unlimited tug capabilities. A small grappling arm allows it to capture and control cargo and solar panels allows it to stay on station for literally years at a time. Finally, a laser drill allows it to function as a salvage or mining vessel. Advanced computer systems allow effectively autonomous ship operations for either an onboard or remote operator.
The small bridge can theoretically seat two, a pilot and a cargo master, but for longer term operation, the other half of the forward compartment contains one bunk and a galley, equipped with the aforementioned kitchen sink. Operating for more than a week aboard a Mule can be difficult for most people, but a certain subclass can thrive in such an environment, and independent Mule operators can often be rather eccentric. While the Mule is as commonly assigned to former Star Knight personnel as a Katar fighter, it is a very different vehicle, operated by a very different breed of reserve Storm Knight. The Mule, with its often slightly battered appearance and a seemly endless numbers of cargo fasteners, external and internal, can look and sometimes smell like a junkyard, but it is a solid vessel, both reliable and versatile. Most experienced spacers know better than to criticize a Mule in front of its owner.
(edit: fixed tiny mistake, it's Virtual Crew/0 not 1)
After all this, I really want a Mule. It would make a great ship for a grizzled, slightly "eccentric" belter.
Link to blog:
https://geirbloodaxe.blogspot.com/2020/05/the-katar-and-mule-two-very-different.html
Pretty much content of blog:
Storm Knight Katar-class Light Fighter
The Storm Knight's Katar-class light fighter is an old but reliable design notable for its shining Reflec anti-laser coating. While useful in recruiting posters, the Katar has proven inferior to the higher technology Aslan Taleryushi-class fighter at least in theory, though few actual encounters involve straight one-on-one fighter dogfights, and even in those, skill or luck often determines the outcome.
Still, for more than four centuries, the basic configuration of the Katar has remained unchanged. It is a heavily armored dual-seat silver arrowhead capable of 7g acceleration and high performance atmospheric flight. For system defense and escort duties, it is a perfectly adequate fighter, and the thousands of vehicles assigned to reserve Storm Knight flight officers have seen service across The Beyond and into neighboring sectors.
In a major battle, wings of Katar fighters might make a difference, but most Storm Knight tacticians prefer to utilize Sabre-class pinnaces in multi-function roles, including that of heavy fighter, rather than deploy light fighters likely to suffer heavy casualties.
Storm Knight Mule-class Utility Tug
The Mule-class utility tug is ubiquitous within the Stormhaven Republic and across much of The Beyond. The unassuming little ship is very expensive for a 20-ton vessel, but it would be incorrect to categorize it as a launch or a lifeboat. It is a utility craft equipped with everything, including, literally, a kitchen sink.
Equipped with powerful engines, the Mule can theoretically achieve 7g when carrying only its internal load. However, that is not its main function. Operating as a tug, it has a Type I docking clamp to allow it to attach other small vessels, external cargo mounts to carry an additional 60 tons of cargo, netting to secure another 120 tons, and a tow cable that allows theoretically unlimited tug capabilities. A small grappling arm allows it to capture and control cargo and solar panels allows it to stay on station for literally years at a time. Finally, a laser drill allows it to function as a salvage or mining vessel. Advanced computer systems allow effectively autonomous ship operations for either an onboard or remote operator.
The small bridge can theoretically seat two, a pilot and a cargo master, but for longer term operation, the other half of the forward compartment contains one bunk and a galley, equipped with the aforementioned kitchen sink. Operating for more than a week aboard a Mule can be difficult for most people, but a certain subclass can thrive in such an environment, and independent Mule operators can often be rather eccentric. While the Mule is as commonly assigned to former Star Knight personnel as a Katar fighter, it is a very different vehicle, operated by a very different breed of reserve Storm Knight. The Mule, with its often slightly battered appearance and a seemly endless numbers of cargo fasteners, external and internal, can look and sometimes smell like a junkyard, but it is a solid vessel, both reliable and versatile. Most experienced spacers know better than to criticize a Mule in front of its owner.
(edit: fixed tiny mistake, it's Virtual Crew/0 not 1)
NOLATrav
Emperor Mongoose
Such great work! I really hope the Powers That Be take notice and consider all your efforts.
Love the Mule, I've been having fun for a while now re-imagining and re-purposing small craft. A few years ago I had an Agent that had a super tricked out 20 ton launch. Interplanetary RV with a hidden compartment basically. He'd pay the cargo rates to have it jump along with him across the subsector. Good times. In a later game that I ran I had a hook involving a Contact/Ally that had a specialized launch she wanted to get back to her family on a nearby water world. It had been kitted out for aquatic and underwater work and I used that to get the group into the old Nomads of the World Ocean adventure.
Really great work, Geir. I'm puttering thru slowly but I think my next campaign (whenever that may be) will be in The Beyond. Revised, of course
Love the Mule, I've been having fun for a while now re-imagining and re-purposing small craft. A few years ago I had an Agent that had a super tricked out 20 ton launch. Interplanetary RV with a hidden compartment basically. He'd pay the cargo rates to have it jump along with him across the subsector. Good times. In a later game that I ran I had a hook involving a Contact/Ally that had a specialized launch she wanted to get back to her family on a nearby water world. It had been kitted out for aquatic and underwater work and I used that to get the group into the old Nomads of the World Ocean adventure.
Really great work, Geir. I'm puttering thru slowly but I think my next campaign (whenever that may be) will be in The Beyond. Revised, of course
Geir
Emperor Mongoose
NOLATrav said:
Yeah, me too. But in any case I'm having fun doing it. I hope others get some benefit from my efforts.
Here's another revised ship with deck plans:
https://geirbloodaxe.blogspot.com/2020/05/khtesiai-spy-ship.html
And basically repeated below:
One cool thing about the longevity of Traveller is the incredible amount of source material that exists. I was designing the deck plans for an Aslan ship and got to the staterooms. What does an Aslan bed look like? Or a toilet? Or even a chair? Well, turns out this has already been considered and published, way back in 1991 in Megatraveller Alien Volume 2: Solomani and Aslan. Toward the back are a number of Aslan ships, including deck plans for the Eakhau trader done by Rob Caswell. And there you have those things right there for me to... emulate. I have to say I like Caswell's versions of Aslan ships better than what's in Pirates of Drinax. They should all be smooth elegant designs and the Drinax version of the Eakhau looks like a paper hat. Or an overturned version of what the British would call a chips container.
But here is my own contribution to non-linear ship designs, the Khtesiai Spy ship:
Khtesiai-class Spy Ship
The Khtesiai is not an impressive-looking ship, often compared to a dull black skipping stone in shape. It serves the Syoisuis as a spy ship charged with border system surveillance. Designed to observe and occasionally intervene to keep the terms of the Peace of Kaiear, its crews are dedicated, but their task is thankless. Their orders pit them against other Aslan as often as against Humaniti.
Designed for stealth, the Khtesiai is able to spend months on station, especially with its impressive 7g drives powered down. The dozen torpedoes stored on board are mostly launch platforms for surveillance probes, but can include plasma torpedoes for strike missions and, allegedly, thermonuclear warheads capable of destroying cities or capital ships. The pulse lasers and fast drive are used to discourage pursuit and to flee when discovered, not to fight.
At full crew, the Khtesiai is a crowded ship, with females outnumbering males who are often ill-suited to this quiet patient work. Instead, many Khtesiai crews utilize computer programs to replace their pilots and gunners, operating the ship with just six or eight females, with perhaps a patient male as titular commander.
Geir
Emperor Mongoose
Messing with smallcraft left me wondering how cheap you can make a ship in Traveller. Turns out about Cr 160,000, if you want to drive a rocket and solar powered planetoid rubble-pile from a cockpit. But that's the extreme. You can do quite a bit with 10-ton ships, and so here are a gaggle created for The Beyond, but suitable for just about anywhere.
I've done nine different 10-ton designs today and deckplans for 6 of them. Definetly more than links will support, so I'll just post the deckplan image and leave all the details in the blog:
https://geirbloodaxe.blogspot.com/2020/05/a-bunch-of-10-ton-ships.html
I've done nine different 10-ton designs today and deckplans for 6 of them. Definetly more than links will support, so I'll just post the deckplan image and leave all the details in the blog:
https://geirbloodaxe.blogspot.com/2020/05/a-bunch-of-10-ton-ships.html
Lurking Grue
Cosmic Mongoose
Love your effort and attention to detail, Geir! Two thumbs up!
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