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Aurora Clipper deckplans

jfetters

jfetters

SOC-14 1K
Howdy folks.

TNE has always been one of my favorite Traveller editions, mainly because of the amount of depth and texture that GDW gave to the RC in such a relatively short span of time. Technologically, one of the most striking examples of the RC mindset and strategy was the Aurora Class clipper.

According to GDW lore, there were plans to create a sourcebook just for the clipper itself and some of its modules. History, of course, prevented that from happening. But this is one thing that I have always wanted to see for the last 12 years or so, ever since I saw it in the back of the Path of Tears sourcebook.

Loren teased us a few months ago, intimating that something may be back in the works, but it may also be a long wait. I couldn't wait that long.


Over the last few weeks (longer, actually, but most of the work has gone in the last couple) I have been peicing together a draft deckplan of the Aurora clipper using CC2 Pro. I am not going to post the image here to the thread, as it will distort the page way the hell out of proportion.

But go ahead and check it out.

I am definitely interested in constructive criticism here. Understanding that not everything is on the floorplan yet, I am nevertheless concerned that there seems to be a LOT of extra space on the deck...that just doesn't seem very Star Viking.


So have at it. Let me know what you think.
 
very nice its "slenderness" kinda
reminds me of an old medium graceful
sized "clipper" ships...

i dont know enough about
"Aurora Class clipper" CT
ships to really comment...

to "heavily" armed? maybe the
meson and only 2 turrets?

im guessing at best... :(
 
Looks like a good layout to me but I'm not very familiar with Clipper ships from TNE beyond what was in the rulebook. I don't remember exactly how it's design sequence is structured so I can't comment about the accuracy with respect to dtonnage of your plans.
 
I agree, it looks sharpish Jim :D

Have you got the stats handy to copy here for more constructive tearing apart? ;)

The lack of details makes it kinda hard to determine where all this extra space you speak of is. Is it in the spine access? I see the one big area on the forward deck you have left blank, maybe that could go towards avionics and sensors and commo and such?
 
Thanks for the kind words, guys.

And it figures, too - just as I was falling asleep last night, the thought pops into my head that I should have put some stats up there, too.
Oh well...

I'm at work at the moment, so I don't have access to any of the Clipper data (I think - if this proves otherwise, I'll try to post sooner). I will have it up by this evening.

Randy - the design sequence is a little bizarre and is probably the source for all of the "problems" that I am encountering (if you want to call them problems). Since the specs published in TNE are only the end result, the design, to a large extent, needed to be reverse engineered to see what would generate the numbers listed in the book. Add to that, the fact that the ship listed has about three different tonnage configurations, the level of complexity increases somewhat.

The good news is that the basic hull configuration (the first outline) is for the most part correct. It's just the other tweaking that needs to be looked at (for example, does one whole deck need to be axed).

Dan - Yeah, most of the "extras" are already accounted for, or can be without taking up too much space. The main issue with sensors & things is that they take up a relatively small space in the FF&S rules. Still, there are a number of things that need to be placed, including:

Fore section dorsal and ventral turret controls (I have the dorsal turret access, but the firing control needs to be in the spine)

Engineering workstations (I think about a dozen)

EMM hardware (Either in the aft "attic" or "basement" of the aft engineering section)

Maybe a couple other things.

Also, the "Path of Tears" description of the vessel describes the major contents of the three sections pretty well (command, spine and engineering) and I also tried to incorporate that into the design. I will try to transcribe that tonight as well.
 
Hi !

Very cool design !
I really love the impact of the meson gun spinal mount.
So I like the general seperation into a bridge/accomodation section and a drive/power plant section.

What is a clipper module ??

Yeah, I would ask for some more stats, too.

Anyway, good work !


regards,

TE
 
THanks, TE - but the actual ship design is GDW's. I'm just figuring out the insides.


The main concept is that the Reformation Coalition (from TNE), being scarce on resources, needs to have adaptable vessels that can be reconfigured on a mission-by-mission basis. Think a modular cutter writ large. So the main ship is designed to have a forward control section, an aft engineering section, and the long spine.

Modules can be attached to the spine (or "clipped") that add functionality, such as a fuel tankage module, crew quarters, weapons, cargo, you name it. In fact these are requirements for this ship because the ship as designed only has quarters for 40, but has a crew requirement of 80. Therefore it HAS to be equipped with a quarters module.

Another interesting aspect of the ship is that the main fuel tank, the Manta, is a detchable shuttle that holds close to 400 tons of fuel - hence the pump units in the top level of the engineering section. Because of this detachable nature, it requires that some kind of a fuel module be attached (to the last few spine sections) in order for the Aurora to function with the Manta detached.

I'll get more info up tonight, I promise.
 
oh, confused,newbie...

so its not a clipper ship in the
classical sense but a "modable""clip"
ship?

if so then i retract my "too hvy armed"
comment its good to go!
 
No worries, sid - the whole "clipper" thing threw me, too when I first saw it.

In any case, here are the basic stats for the Aurora class. This was transcribed from the Path of Tears sourcebook. I have omitted some information for brevity:

General Data
Displacement: 600/1080/2080 tons
Length: 144 meters
Price: MCr 749.86
Configuration: Open Frame USL
Mass (Loaded/Empty): 17,404.69/13,311.09
Hull Armor: 20
Volume: 8400/14,000/28000 m^3
Target Size: M(L)
Tech Level: 12

Engineering Data
Power Plant: 2280 MW Fusion Power Plant (50MW/Hit), 1 year duration
Jump Performance: 2 @ 2080 tons, 3 @1560 tons, 4 @ 1248 tons, 5 @ 1040 tons. (Fuel used per jump varies with displacement and jump distance, but is always 4368 m^3 for max jump at current configuration)
G-Rating: 2 @ All displacements, limited by hull construction. No Contra-Grav lifters
G-Turns: Assuming fuel from skinner and 400 ton fuel module, 8222 m^3 of fuel is available
Maint: 630

Electronics
Computer: 1xTL 12 Mod Fb Computer (0.8 MW), 2xTL-12 Mod St Computer (0.4 MW)
Commo: 300000km radio, 1000 AU maser
Avionics: TL-10+
Sensors: Passive EMS fixed array 120,000km, Active EMS 300,000km
ECM/ECCM: EM Masking
Controls: Bridge with 18xBridge Workstations, plus 26 other workstations

Armament
Offensive: 8xTL12 120 Mj Laser turrets, TL-12 1000-Mj Meson Gun
Master Fire Directors: 3xTL-12 MFD

Accommodations
Life Support: Extended, Gravitic Compensators
Crew:85 - 26 Engineering, 2 Electonics, 2 Maneuvering, 16 Gunnery, 7 Maintenance, 18 Flight Crew, 11 COmmand, 2 Steward, 1 Medical
Crew Accomodations: 20xSmall Staterooms(double occupancy)
Cargo:149 m^3, one small cargo hatch
Small Craft and Launch Facilities: External grapples for 50-ton cutter, 30-ton craft, 1x400 ton fuel skimmer, 4x100 ton, 1x200 ton and 1x400 ton auxiliary modules.
 
IIRC the g-rating is limited by the structure of the hull to no more than 2.

It is built to operate at 2g all the way up to 2080-dtons though.
 
I was looking more at this design and I had a few questions about deckplanning and volume calculation. As math is not my strong suit, I figure it is good to ask those better at it than I.
Not that I am big on square counting, or anything, as it makes my eyes hurt, nonetheless I want to make sure that these things come out close.

The Aurora design above was done in accordance with TNE rules and FF&S, therefore it was done with a 2m grid.

CC2 has a nice feature that allows you to trace a section of the floorplan and it calculates the area of the outlined area in square units (whatever configured in the program - feet, meters, etc). So, when a 2m square is traced around, you get a value returned of 4.

So, I traced the Aurora decks and came up with a value of 8640 square meters. So, then is it logical to determine that the number of grid squares based on the area would be (m^2 / 4)?
 
Just correct

So the Aurora deckplans should have around 8640/4 = 2160 squares (2mx2m).
What deck height is assumed here ?

I'm still looking for a kind of CC2 macro, which lists and adds the areas of a defined set of multiple outlined areas, so that I could control areas/volumes more easily during drawing.
 
Yeah, I hear that - using the Area function was a bit of a bother on a multi-level hull that has differing areas per level.

But you just hit on the magic issue there, TE, mainly being that my calculations are way the hell off.


The primary structure of the ship is 600 dt. That means a VOLUME of 8400 cubic meters, so the ship in the link is WAY bigger than it is supposed to be (by a factor of 4, which is kind of what I was suspecting). I need to get that design down to 600 "squares" but keep the length. I think I can lop off at least one level (the lower fore level definitely), and make it "skinnier."

Back to the drawing board.
 
Hi Jim !

As far as I understood it, You`ve got a ship now with a volume 8460 * 3 (deck height 3m?) = 25380 m³.
But You need to have 8400 m³. Now thats one third and so really a mess
. Guess you have to strip more than one deck....

Do you know my Excel (somehow) graphical ship design sheet ?
I just had to "scale down" my oversized Aurora freighter down from 2000 dton to 600 dTon. Kind of related problem, but the sheet really help a lot.

Anyway, good luck.

TE
 
Do you have your spreadsheet available for download? I'd like to check it out.

But otherwise it shouldn't be a problem. This actually solves a lot of the questions I was having about the seemingly huge amounts of empty space. I have the length about right, but I think the number of decks needs to go down to about 2 (possibly a third in the back), and that should result in a tighter design. I know that the components in the design (drives, staterooms, etc) will all fit in 8400 m^3, but I just have to sit down with it.

Should be fun, but it may just wait until after vacation.


Thanks for the input, TE, it has been incredibly helpful!
 
OK, now I am back and have been able to attend to this a little better.

TE, that spreadsheet is very cool. Now that I have an understanding of basic math, I think I can use CC2 to do this, too. ;)

Anyway, I have updated the deckplan and come up with a MUCH more streamlined edition. I had originally intended to go with a bi-level design all around, including a lower level of the spine. Then I saw this illustration in Star Vikings of what is supposedly the Thunderchild, and I saw that there was no way for the ship to really have a full lower level to the spine:

AuroraFrame.jpg


That's what I get for basing a desing off of a miniature rather than a drawing, I guess.

Anyway, the inclusion of the lower level really streched out the +20% deckplan recommendation. Removing that and adding a bit more space to the fore and aft sections put the size almost exactly on target.


This is the end result. I am sure there are other issues with it as well, and I am going to create a more generic design with "block shapes" for machinery instead of the stencils, but this is it for the time being.

As always, comments and questions are appreciated.
 
Very nice Jim


Won't the fuel skimmer interfere with a couple of the laser turret locations?

When are you staring on the modules?
 
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