From: John Brewer <jbrewer@w...>
Date: Mon, 25 Dec 2006 03:22:04 GMT
Subject: [GZG] [FT] Auxiliary craft for starships
_______________________________________________ Gzg-l mailing list Gzg-l@lists.csua.berkeley.edu http://lists.csua.berkeley.edu/mailman/listinfo/gzg-lMerry Christmas! Here's a present for everyone on the List - AUXILIARY CRAFT FOR STARSHIPS! I only recently got a pdf copy of More Thrust, and I came across this in Section 6, pg. 18... "The Drop capability to land the Marines on-planet is assumed to be provided by the ship's own standard auxiliary craft (all ships that are not themselves atmosphere-capable are automatically outfited with one or more small shuttles, launches or ship's boats with interface capability, for general landing and resupply missions - though these small craft are not armoured or equipped like a Military Dropship, they may be used to shuttle the Marines into action)." More Thrust doesn't really say how many smallcraft a starship would have, how big the smallcraft are, how many passengers it can transport at one time, or how much cargo capacity it can take. A good rule of thumb for smallcraft allocation is that a starship should have enough smallcraft to rotate the ship's crew using their own auxiliaries in round trips of 4 or fewer. Designs for smallcraft usually have passenger seating for 6-12 with 2 crew to operate. I would suggest using the smallcraft designs from the sci-fi rpg Traveller. There are 4 common designs; and I add one more... Standard to all starships - from the smallest scoutship up - is a craft called the Boatswain's Bee. It's the 22nd Century's equivalent to the wet navy's Boatswain's Chair, and is similar to the "Work Bee" seen in a early scene from "Star Trek: The Motion Picture", but considerably smaller, with standing room for just 2 people. It attaches to its mothership with a lamprey-like docking cradle, that is gimbled so that an empty Bee can be undocked & moved to the side so that a Bee from another ship can dock. It is unstreamlined, with only maneuvering thrusters, so that it cannot make a orbit/dirtside interface. It can transport people between ships underway as long as the ships have identical facing, velocity, & are no more than 6mu apart [3mu vector]. Boatswain's Bees are the only smallcraft carried on scoutships & corvettes, since their duties are patrol & escort, which don't entail the need for orbit/planet transport. Military starships of frigate-size and larger do have use for smallcraft with orbit/dirtside interface. I've translated the stats from the GDW Traveller smallcraft to FT/DSll Cargo Space... Boatswain's Bee Allocation Cost: Free/standard-all ships Unstreamlined Cargo Capacity: 2cs "20-Ton" Launch Used by ships of frigate-sized & larger Allocation Cost: 1 Partially Streamlined Cargo Capacity: 26cs "30-Ton" Ship's Boat Used by ships of "Cruiser"-size & larger Allocation Cost: 1&1/2 Partially Streamlined Cargo Capacity: 28cs "40-Ton" Pinnace Allowed ONLY on "Capital" ships w/hangerbays Allocation Cost: 2 Fully Streamlined Cargo Capacity: 45cs "50-Ton" Cutter Allowed ONLY on "Capital" ships w/hangerbays Allocation Cost: 2 Partially Streamlined Cargo Capacity: 60cs The notation "allocation cost" is based on the space allocated to smallcraft for the TMF of each ship... Frigates & Destroyers w/TMF 40 & under: 1 allotment FTL ships w/TMF 41 - 80: 2 allotments FTL ships w/TMF 81 - 120: 3 allotments FTL ships w/TMF 121 - 160: 4 allotments FTL ships w/TMF 161 - 200: 5 allotments FTL ships w/TMF 201 - 240: 6 allotments FTL ships w/TMF 241 - 280: 7 allotments ect.ect.ect. EXAMPLE: The Jeanne D'Arc class fleet carrier has a TMF of 280, so it has 7 allotments for smallcraft. It also has hangerbays, so it can be outfitted with pinnaces & cutters. So the ship can be outfitted the following ways... 7 launches or 3 ship's boats & 4 launches or 3 ship's boats & 2 cutters or 3 ship's boats, a cutter & a pinnace or 3 cutters & a launch or 2 cutters, a pinnace & a launch or you get the picture. As always, I invite your comments.