The new Starship Operator's Manual is here!

[Condottiere]

1. Decoy.

2. Emergency signal.

 

[MasterGwydion]

Because if the power goes out or the software glitches or the cameras are damaged you can still look out a window and see where you're going.

Except with no power, nothing else works either. Plus, you cannot see far enough ahead to avoid anything when your stopping distance equals your acceleration distance and that is measured in kilometers.

 

[Arkathan]

Except with no power, nothing else works either. Plus, you cannot see far enough ahead to avoid anything when your stopping distance equals your acceleration distance and that is measured in kilometers.

Kind of like an Aircraft Carrier. You hit something or someone goes overboard (and is observed), your rescue boats have a long way to go to get back to the scene of the accident.

 

[Condottiere]

Even if you're accelerating at factor/one.

I'd say automatic procedure would be immediate deceleration, if only on the off chance that you have more space to manoeuvre to respond to unexpected potential collision.

You can have a windscreen, and have it covered by a metal port when actual sight isn't required.

 

[MasterGwydion]

Kind of like an Aircraft Carrier. You hit something or someone goes overboard (and is observed), your rescue boats have a long way to go to get back to the scene of the accident.

Go old school. Put a guy on the hull in a vacc suit calling out fathoms. lolz

 

[Arkathan]

Go old school. Put a guy on the hull in a vacc suit calling out fathoms. lolz

Old school. I used to have a wristwatch that chimed the bells, Navy style, every 15 minutes. Great for hitting logs...
Not because I was gung-ho, but because it was really convenient.

 

[Condottiere]

1. Crow's nest.

2. Keelhauling.

 

[MasterGwydion]

1. Crow's nest.

2. Keelhauling.

Dammit! Now I want to keelhaul someone in a Vacc Suit. I wonder if they would survive a jump strapped to the hull. lolz

 

[Condottiere]

 

[WHULorigan]

And thus the "Head" is at the head of the ship, and not the aft where the wind can blow it into the Captain's Cabin . . .

(Of course, that's a major fail on the part of the Coxs'n ↑ )

 

[Condottiere]

That could be the blowhole.

 

[WingedCat]

Sorry I'm a bit late to this party, but I didn't read through the book until I got my physical copy a few weeks ago.
I love this book! Lots of personality in the writing, lots my favorite bits from the DGP version carried over, and Sgt. Floofy.
I think you all did a great job in putting together a lot of the lore of the last 50 years into something that hangs together pretty well.

I loved the walkthroughs, but I got a bit confused that the last few seemed to have keys for illustrations that aren't there. Like the "Mission Support" section shows entries for "Animal only" ("frozen meat" is one example) and "Suleiman Only" ("fabricator cabinet") but the only illustration in the section is of the low berths for the Empress Marava. Were there other illustrations that were originally intended to be included?

All in all, a great book that I very much enjoyed reading and that gave me a few ideas to spring on my players.

A bit late myself (I thought this thread had ended), but thank you for the compliments.

To your question: there were indeed supposed to be Mission Support drawings for the Suleiman and Animal too, as you can see on the key. I don't know what happened to them. Likewise, the Suleiman doesn't have a formal "commons" (as you can see on page 135: there is no "Common Areas" listed, unlike for the other two ships); I think what is pictured is supposed to be the Empress Marava's, or perhaps a makeshift commons in a Suleiman. Where the illustrations conflicts with the keys or other text, the text can be considered canon if you are concerned about canonicity. (Of course, the recommended approach is to adapt it for your campaign: whatever your table wants to be the case.)

 

[WingedCat]

Personally, I am not even sure why spaceships, including modern ones, even have windows. Even with today's tech, we can create a 360-degree by 360-degree video, in real-time, and project it on to spherical screen. I would hazard a guess that this technology will only improve in the future, allowing a huge range of different visual data to be projected on the screens, from visible light to other parts of the spectrum, colorshifted to be visible to humans or other sophonts. This could also include auto-zooming based on where the user's eyeball is looking on the screens. All a window, or any other opening in the hull, is a weak point in the hull. Therefore, it makes the most sense to limit these weakpoints as much as possible.

You are correct, and battleships might not have windows at all.

Most Travellers will never personally see a battleship, let alone crew one.

Nonmilitary Adventure Class Ships, particularly ones that might possibly land away from prepared spaceports (not recommended, but it does happen), despite their core function being about interstellar travel, sometimes care quite a lot about the performance and capability of the ship when landed and/or when making close approaches to terrain. For some designs, including the Suleiman and Beowulf, this can be more of a concern than combat performance. This is why their bridges have windows: as backup close-range visual sight while landing and taking off. Cameras around the exterior of the ship assist as well, to capture angles that windows can't, but sometimes one need to land with barely-functioning lifters and minimal other electronics, meaning that most sensors are not available.