Book 2 Design: Merchant Explorer

[Pickles]

Inspired by the other thread, here's the heavily modified* free trader used by Bromgrev Mercantile to open up new markets in the District 268 and Egyrn subsectors:

Merchant Explorer (type Ms): Using a 200-ton hull, the merchant explorer is a vessel designed for the investigation of relatively unknown or previously unexplored worlds with the intention of establishing new trade routes and discovering potentially valuable resources, goods and technology. It is intended to operate singly or as part of a group of up to four vessels, but the most common deployment is in pairs.

The vessel mounts jump drive-B, manoeuvre drive-B and power plant-B, giving performance of jump-2 and 2-G acceleration. There is fuel tankage of 60 tons, sufficient for the power plant and one jump-2. Adjacent to the bridge is a computer model/2bis. There are 8 staterooms and 2 emergency low berths. Two triple turrets are installed, with fire control; each mounts a beam laser, missile rack and sandcaster. One GCarrier is carried in a specially fitted hangar within the ship. Cargo capacity is 51 tons. The hull is streamlined.

The merchant explorer requires a crew of five: pilot, engineer, medic and two gunners. In addition, a navigator and a factor are normally carried on exploratory missions. The spare stateroom is for an additional specialist, or may be used to hold extra stores. The ship costs MCr92.2 and takes 12 months to build.

More about Sigg's Factor Career in this thread.


*'Heavily modified' means it uses the same hull shape (flattened sphere in HG) as BM's fleet of free traders. In other words it looks very similar, but that's all.

 

[Pickles]

High Guard:

Ms-5963 Tanken Ms-26222S1-030000-10001-0 MCr108.538 200 tons TL12

Tonnage: 200 tons (standard). 2,800 cubic metres.
Crew: Factor, pilot, navigator, engineer, medic, 2 gunners.
Passengers: One. 2 emergency low berths.
Cargo: 53 tons (standard). 742 cubic metres.
Fuel: 44 tons (standard).
Performance: Jump-2. 2-G. Power plant-2. 4 EP. Agility 1.
Electronics: Model/2bis computer.
Hardpoints: Two hardpoints mounting triple turrets.
Armament: Two beam lasers operating as two batteries. Two missile racks operating as two batteries.
Defences: Two sandcasters operating as two batteries.
Craft: One GCarrier.
Fuel treatment: Integral fuel scoops. On-board fuel purification plant.
Cost: MCr108.538 singly. MCr86.8304 in quantity.

 

[deadlock]

Greetings and salutations,

Nice design. The only change I would make would be more cargo space, some kind of spaceship, and boarding for the spaceship pilot. Well, more cargo may not be necessary if some tonnage was allocated to refrigeration. At the most, an additional 100dtons would be added (and a few numbers reworked), but the merchant explorer would be prepared for almost any business opportunity.

Reasoning:
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• If the starship cannot land, send the spaceship. Losing it would be less of a loss than the starship.</font>
• The additional pilot for the spaceship goes along the lines of losing the spaceship. You never want to place your pilot in direct danger on a first contact mission unless someone else can pilot the starship.</font>

But that's just my .02 credits thought for the moment.

 

[Black Globe Generator]

Forty tons of fuel? That seems light to me - how did you calculate this?

 

[Pickles]

Originally posted by Black Globe Generator:
Forty tons of fuel? That seems light to me - how did you calculate this?

Badly.

Fixed, now.

 

[mike wightman]

Forty four tons of fuel is correct for the High Guard design

20t per jump, and 4t for the power plant (2% of 200t).
Note that the LBB2 version has 60t of fuel.

 

[Pickles]

Originally posted by Marquis Deadlock:
Nice design.

Why thank you.

The only change I would make would be more cargo space, some kind of spaceship, and boarding for the spaceship pilot. Well, more cargo may not be necessary if some tonnage was allocated to refrigeration. At the most, an additional 100dtons would be added (and a few numbers reworked), but the merchant explorer would be prepared for almost any business opportunity.

The reasoning behind not having a smallcraft is that the ship itself is small and streamlined. Being based on a free trader, it's designed for regular planetfall. In an emergency, the GCarrier can take the entire crew.

Same for the cargo capacity - it's a small ship, not intended to turn a profit on its trips. The cargo space is for samples going out and coming back. The cost effectiveness comes by providing advance intelligence on trade opportunities for the owner corporation.

 

[Pickles]

Floorplans are here! Get 'em while they're hot!

Don't expect nuthin' fancy, neither, 'cuz they're just good ole-fashioned LBB plans. And they are for the book 2 version.

 

[Pwyll]

i really like this design, very purpose-driven.
why the 2bis computer instead of knocking a few mcr off the price tho?
also since you need a navigator anyway, why not go to a 400-ton standard hull with d-drives? this would leave room for enough mercs to enhance survivability, and a large payload as well. even fighters if needed.
compare vs. the cost of 2 Tankens.

 

[Pickles]

Glad you like it. The 2bis is to allow for more programs to run at once in emergency situations (like combat). The reason for two 200-tonners rather than one 400-tonner is survivability and versatility. Ok, that's two reasons.

If one ship is disabled, the other can still get both crews home. Two ships allows one to stay in orbit while the other lands (although this would also work with a larger ship and a launch).

The main in-game reason, though, is that the design is a modification of a mercantile corporation's free trader fleet. Lots of money saved over buying new vessels, equipping maintenance yards or re-training crews.