Thousand Ton Traders

[alex_greene]

Traveller could really do with large, streamlined trader-style vessels built like Type Rs or Type As, but based on thousand-ton hulls. The Freighter design from the core rulebook has the most hideous design of a ship that I have ever seen, like leftover lego bricks just slapped together.

 

[ShawnDriscoll]

<Goes and looks at his '70s-style ship designs.>

 

[F33D]

 

[ShawnDriscoll]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TPVNfSg4m80

 

[F33D]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TPVNfSg4m80

Really nice work. Is Modo difficult to learn/use?

 

[ShawnDriscoll]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TPVNfSg4m80

Really nice work. Is Modo difficult to learn/use?

I can't figure out how to make anything with it. I just use it for rendering. Give the trial version a try and see if you understand it.

 

[F33D]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TPVNfSg4m80

Really nice work. Is Modo difficult to learn/use?

I can't figure out how to make anything with it. I just use it for rendering.

Ah, okay. What do you use for the underlying drawing?

 

[dragoner]

Traveller could really do with large, streamlined trader-style vessels built like Type Rs or Type As, but based on thousand-ton hulls. The Freighter design from the core rulebook has the most hideous design of a ship that I have ever seen, like leftover lego bricks just slapped together.

FASA had six in ACS 3, Merchants. I've converted a few of their ships from CT to Mongoose.

 

[F33D]

Traveller could really do with large, streamlined trader-style vessels built like Type Rs or Type As, but based on thousand-ton hulls.

I don't see paying 10% more for a streamlined hull over a standard one makes financial sense.

 

[GypsyComet]

Traveller could really do with large, streamlined trader-style vessels built like Type Rs or Type As, but based on thousand-ton hulls. The Freighter design from the core rulebook has the most hideous design of a ship that I have ever seen, like leftover lego bricks just slapped together.

FASA had six in ACS 3, Merchants. I've converted a few of their ships from CT to Mongoose.

There is also the Long Liner, with appearances in CT and early MT.

The FASA ships from that folio range from viable to odd to silly. I'm not sure why anyone would think a single-story cargo bay that wide (in the Triad) would be a good idea. Having to walk through that much cargo bay to get to the shorter catamaran hull just adds to the odd.

The 1kdt Freighter from the Mongoose Core book is clumsy, but for ugly it has nothing on the Hnneshant from IISS Ship Files or the Leviathan Exploratory Trader. Even those Judges Guild boxes posted above could easily be reskinned to look like a diesel electric locomotive and be fine. The Hnneshant, not so much.

 

[dragoner]

There is also the Long Liner, with appearances in CT and early MT.

The FASA ships from that folio range from viable to odd to silly. I'm not sure why anyone would think a single-story cargo bay that wide (in the Triad) would be a good idea. Having to walk through that much cargo bay to get to the shorter catamaran hull just adds to the odd.

The 1kdt Freighter from the Mongoose Core book is clumsy, but for ugly it has nothing on the Hnneshant from IISS Ship Files or the Leviathan Exploratory Trader. Even those Judges Guild boxes posted above could easily be reskinned to look like a diesel electric locomotive and be fine. The Hnneshant, not so much.

The art work for the ACS 3 ships is rather weird too, maybe Mr Stead could fix that. But they do have deck plans, which is nice. One I use as the deck plan for the TTA Interstellar Queen:

http://www.bisbos.com/scifi/tta_images/650/iqueenl.jpg

 

[alex_greene]

http://www.bisbos.com/scifi/tta_images/650/iqueenl.jpg

An iconic design from Ye Olde Days of sci fi book covers.

Nobody can tell me that that was not partly an inspiration for the design of Serenity.

 

[phavoc]

The art work for the ACS 3 ships is rather weird too, maybe Mr Stead could fix that. But they do have deck plans, which is nice. One I use as the deck plan for the TTA Interstellar Queen:

http://www.bisbos.com/scifi/tta_images/650/iqueenl.jpg

I love those books! It took me a while to track down a set of them. My brother had them when they first came out, sadly I did not get my hands on them.

From the images it was always hard to tell how they managed to fit 280 passengers in that ship. If you read the specs from the book I think they reversed them. The larger Mk2 supposedly had 30 cabin crew for over 600 passengers, while the Mk1 had 75 cabin crew for 280.

 

[Reynard]

"I don't see paying 10% more for a streamlined hull over a standard one makes financial sense."

On company ships with safe routes and higher class starports with orbital facilities and reliable refined fuel that is true. Ships with more general purpose routes that serve any possible system need the advantage of streamlining to turn a profit often a higher return for being more adventurous over time.

 

[Condottiere]

Looks like the Hooded Swan.

 

[F33D]

"I don't see paying 10% more for a streamlined hull over a standard one makes financial sense."

On company ships with safe routes and higher class starports with orbital facilities and reliable refined fuel that is true. Ships with more general purpose routes that serve any possible system need the advantage of streamlining to turn a profit often a higher return for being more adventurous over time.

There is no advantage. Standard hulls can skim fuel and land on any planet too.

 

[Reynard]

Standard hulls suck at atmosphere landing and may have fuel scoops for GG skimming but at a cost in lousy pilot tasks (-2DM) on all atmosphere movement. There's a reason for streamlining and aerofins.

 

[GypsyComet]

Even a little bit of armor is a bigger investment than streamlining in the Adventure Class size range, and that's a comparison of an option that will change how a civilian ship operates on possibly every trip vs an option you hope you will never need as a civilian ship owner.

For a standard performance civilian ship (J1 or 2, M1 or 2), streamlining is less than 2% of the final ship cost. A ship designed to make money on shoestring routes *might* need to shave that little bit off of the monthly costs, but there are other design decisions, like being off by *one or two* staterooms (depending on ship size) to optimally serve a given neighborhood, that will affect the bottom line far more over time.

 

[F33D]

Standard hulls suck at atmosphere landing and may have fuel scoops for GG skimming but at a cost in lousy pilot tasks (-2DM) on all atmosphere movement. There's a reason for streamlining and aerofins.

The rule was clarified by the author s >2 years ago on this forum. There is no problems taking off or landing on worlds using a standard hull. Nor in skimming. Keep up with the times. :lol:

 

[Reynard]

It's too bad it's not in any easily accessed errata or location so everyone can be on the little secret. That means the majority of people have to rely on what's available, the Core Book. It seems pretty stupid that configuration has been important in other editions including MgT but someone somewhere at some obscure time casually dismisses the concept of ship hull configuration. Hate to think what other minor detail was waved away where we can't find it.