What type of ships are GMs/PCs looking for?

[coolAlias]

How about an in-system racing ship? No jump, no guns, just pure thrust. Like the Razorback from The Expanse series.

Also, and I'm sure they've been done in one or more of the existing published works, but cheap and scrappy pirate (or bounty hunter / police / etc.) ships focused on ambushing and boarding/capturing mostly intact the 100-400T free trader type ships our Travellers love to use. Always useful to have a few types of these on hand.

 

[ottarrus]

Everybody has their best player ship ever but virtually nobody agrees on what it is.
What we all do agree on is that nobody likes being stuck on a J-1 /1G meat can with Civilian sensors and only one or two turrets, one one of which is filled.
Really, it depends on what the crew is doing with it. A corvette looks a lot different than a cargo ship, right? And the higher performance your ship, the more you need a patron /boss... which kinda defeats the whole 'free agents for hire' theme. You can get away with being a starmerc [a mercenary that operates a warship rather than a ground unit], but even that relies on consistently hunting up tickets.
The 'most perfect' ship for freelancers [in that it's pretty cheap to operate and has not-bad performance] is probably the Type S Scout /Courier. If you pick it up as a Detached Duty Scout the maintenance and fuel are free at IISS bases. The price for that, of course, is that the ship's logs are examined and PCs are debriefed by the Scouts regularly. Yes, it's true that most PCs want better performance and more room, but that's not the ship the Emperor is handing out.

 

[Endie]

A J3 Hercules can carry 35 50,000-Ton pods. Each of the AutoBerth pods can carry 143,454 people. That’s 5,020,890.

How do you get 143,454 low berths into 50ktons when HG has them at half a ton each?

 

[Terry Mixon]

How do you get 143,454 low berths into 50ktons when HG has them at half a ton each?

These are AutoBerth clusters, my own design from the Robot Handbook. I’ll post it here once I get home. It fits three people in one ton of space.

 

[ottarrus]

These are AutoBerth clusters, my own design from the Robot Handbook. I’ll post it here once I get home. It fits three people in one ton of space.

Hot bunking in freezer

 

[Terry Mixon]

Hot bunking in freezer

Nope! Separate medical chambers! This is the Advanced version, but there are cheaper alternatives. This one guarantees you wake up, though.

As each 3-person cluster has a robot medic built in, they can be put into the AutoBerth as fast as they can board the pods. The pods come in models that are Not Self-Mobile and need to be moved, and in Self-Mobile ones that can fly down on their own, load up, and return to the ship once full, greatly speeding the process.

The self-mobile ones lose some space, but not as much as one might think.

Not Self-Mobile = 47,818 Advanced AutoBerths (143,454 people)
Self-Mobile = 47,078 Advanced AutoBerths (141,234 people)

 

[Terry Mixon]

If other varieties of robotic AutoBerth Cluster might suit you better, here is MixCorp's full line of them.

I've added the spreadsheet with all of the various models to my signature.

 

[Arkathan]

This, please

Can you beat Klomster at his own game?

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/364119/barreller

Close. My Radeux Class 100 tonner can haul 144 tons of cargo along the mains for only ~ MCr1.3 more (18.7).
Bonus, it has a real M-Drive, so you don't have to be careful not to use up all your reaction fuel prior to slowing to an orbital insertion vector.

 

[mavikfelna]

I present the TL9 Haulmaster and the TL12 Vera for your light cargo needs. The Haulmaster costs an astounding 14.46MCr to move 63 tons of cargo at TL9, and the Vera freight tug is 23.4MCr to move 227 tons of cargo, or 27 tons over jump 3 at TL12. The Vera has a hamster cage mostly because I'd never built one before and after looking at the Barreller I wanted to try it out. The 1.2 tons that go into the hamster cage really don't mean much to the cost or capability of the ship but it was fun to put it in.

 

[mavikfelna]

After a discussion on Facebook, Here is a revised Vera. it comes in at 20.6MCr for the combined craft and can move 283 tons of cargo in 1 jump-1.

Matt Monjot These were a pain to get to work. At 20 tons I couldn't include the Biosphere on the tug and had to cut every corner but still have enough performance that you still have a hope of getting to port before your stores run out. It works much better at 30 tons, but it's almost twice the cost.
The Freighter was less tricky but I kept having to tweak because of changes I made to the Tug. In the end though, I think you can get away without a bridge on the Freighter because you can do the astrogation on the Tug. I had to slightly enlarge the jump drive otherwise it could never actually make a jump-3 with just the Tug attached.

All together, you're looking at 123,652 Cr a month in expenses with a mortgage, crew salaries and fuel expenses added in, assuming 2 jumps a month, against an income of 233KCr for just 2 jump-3 a month. If you don't buy fuel and only make 1 jump-3 a month you lose about 5KCr. Just one jump-1 earns 283KCr so running full along a jump-1 main is the way to go.

 

[Fluffy Bunny Feet]

Personally I find the stock TL 12 Scout Courier annoying as the only thing about it that is TL 12 is the power plant.

I'd like to see it updated with the following parameters:

Loses no functionality (not even cargo space).

Drop tanks with fuel for J-3.

Jump 3 - fuel aboard for J-3 (without the drop tanks) the drive must be able to carry the drop tanks while doing a J-3 using the drop tank fuel only.

Manoeuvre drive 3g even while carrying the drop tanks.

Everything else updated to TL 12 or the closest that the item has to TL 12 (without going above TL 12).

Biospheres for the crew in addition to 4 tons of common area.

Obviously this will mean increasing the tonnage somewhat.

Optionally a docking clamp for a vehicle no more massive than the drop tank and able to be carried (without the drop tank) on a Jump 2.

Have fun.

 

[Condottiere]

It's legacy for the past half century, so trying to dethrone it is going to feel disruptive, if not prove to be so.

 

[mavikfelna]

Personally I find the stock TL 12 Scout Courier annoying as the only thing about it that is TL 12 is the power plant.

I'd like to see it updated with the following parameters:

Loses no functionality (not even cargo space).

Drop tanks with fuel for J-3.

Jump 3 - fuel aboard for J-3 (without the drop tanks) the drive must be able to carry the drop tanks while doing a J-3 using the drop tank fuel only.

Manoeuvre drive 3g even while carrying the drop tanks.

Everything else updated to TL 12 or the closest that the item has to TL 12 (without going above TL 12).

Biospheres for the crew in addition to 4 tons of common area.

Obviously this will mean increasing the tonnage somewhat.

Optionally a docking clamp for a vehicle no more massive than the drop tank and able to be carried (without the drop tank) on a Jump 2.

Have fun.

Ok, 2 designs. 1 fully meets your design request but has no armor, only 3 staterooms, no air/raft and no workshop. It was the only way I could get it to still have M-3/J-3 with the fuel pod attached. 6.3MCr more than the base Type-S.

The other design is still a standard Scout/Courier, shy 2 points of armor and most of the cargo space, but with the mods you wanted except it is limited to M-2/J-2 with the fuel pod attached. With a 20 ton small craft and the fuel pod attached it still maintains M-2/J-2. 2.3MCr more than the base Type-2

 

[steelbrok]

Personally I find the stock TL 12 Scout Courier annoying as the only thing about it that is TL 12 is the power plant.

I'd like to see it updated with the following parameters:

Loses no functionality (not even cargo space).

Drop tanks with fuel for J-3.

Jump 3 - fuel aboard for J-3 (without the drop tanks) the drive must be able to carry the drop tanks while doing a J-3 using the drop tank fuel only.

Manoeuvre drive 3g even while carrying the drop tanks.

Everything else updated to TL 12 or the closest that the item has to TL 12 (without going above TL 12).

Biospheres for the crew in addition to 4 tons of common area.

Obviously this will mean increasing the tonnage somewhat.

Optionally a docking clamp for a vehicle no more massive than the drop tank and able to be carried (without the drop tank) on a Jump 2.

Have fun.

I loved the rebuilds in TNE with the 50 ton plug in the Scout/Courier making the Cutters (IIRC) especially the version with the missile system

 

[Fluffy Bunny Feet]

Ok, 2 designs. 1 fully meets your design request but has no armor, only 3 staterooms, no air/raft and no workshop. It was the only way I could get it to still have M-3/J-3 with the fuel pod attached. 6.3MCr more than the base Type-S.

The other design is still a standard Scout/Courier, shy 2 points of armor and most of the cargo space, but with the mods you wanted except it is limited to M-2/J-2 with the fuel pod attached. With a 20 ton small craft and the fuel pod attached it still maintains M-2/J-2. 2.3MCr more than the base Type-2

Missed on the "Loses no functionality (not even cargo space).". Everything in the original needs to be there just at TL 12 or as close as you can come without going higher.

"Obviously this will mean increasing the tonnage somewhat."

 

[mavikfelna]

Missed on the "Loses no functionality (not even cargo space).". Everything in the original needs to be there just at TL 12 or as close as you can come without going higher.

"Obviously this will mean increasing the tonnage somewhat."

Ok, you have to go up to 200 tons and double the cost. There is one caveat as well. To get 2 Jump-3 with the fuel pods still attached and not refueling, you must fill all 4 of the cargo/fuel containers and leaving you with only 0.62 tons for stores. But without the pods attached then you only must fill 3 of the cargo/fuel containers and have 22 tons of cargo space for a Jump-3.
For about 3x the cost, you go to 245 tons and you have 11 tons of cargo, which if you drop the sensors back to the Military Grade from the base Type-S, you have 12 tons of cargo.
So to get exactly the same capability with the additions that you list, 245 tons for a cost of more than 92MCr.

 

[Fluffy Bunny Feet]

Close, no cigar. 8 man crew 4 staterooms? Lost functionality. Lost cargo lost functionality.

I didn't say it would be easy.

 

[mavikfelna]

Close, no cigar. 8 man crew 4 staterooms? Lost functionality. Lost cargo lost functionality.

I didn't say it would be easy.

Um, the Scout doesn't lose any functionality at double staterooms. It is functionally identical to the Original, which RAW should have 6 crew, not 4.

And you aren't losing any cargo with Military Sensors, which is what the original scout has. And upgraded sensors was not part of your qualifications above.

So it meets all your qualifications.

 

[Terry Mixon]

Close, no cigar. 8 man crew 4 staterooms? Lost functionality. Lost cargo lost functionality.

I didn't say it would be easy.

Curse those double staterooms!

 

[Fluffy Bunny Feet]

Um, the Scout doesn't lose any functionality at double staterooms. It is functionally identical to the Original, which RAW should have 6 crew, not 4.

And you aren't losing any cargo with Military Sensors, which is what the original scout has. And upgraded sensors was not part of your qualifications above.

So it meets all your qualifications.

High Guard 2022 3 crew Pilot, Astrogator, Engineer. That is my reference design.