Condottiere
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Less Navy, more Flying Fortress.
House Rules, Starship Design
- Thread starter Vargas
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Spinward Flow
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Unmanned turrets require a level of sophistication/automation that can potentially be challenging prior to TL=10+, hence why a "man in the loop" may be required (inside the turret itself) to make up for that potential lack of automation ... particularly with lower model number computers.
Define "unmanned".
Are we talking autonomous firing systems that decide on their own or just remote firing systems?
Spinward Flow
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Where is the duty station?
Is it IN the turret (physically) ... or OUTSIDE the turret (like on the bridge or in engineering or somewhere else).
Bear in mind that even autonomous fire control systems need to be overseen by sophonts, be calibrated and maintained (so they work right when needed), and so on and so forth ... so having enough space inside the turret for a Gunner to get INTO in order to access and maintain the systems and engineering there is still necessary, even if the Gunnery duty station (during combat or otherwise) is elsewhere aboard ship.
In other words, you can keep the old legacy deck plans "as is" with an acceleration couch and a hatch access to the turret interiors ... but at a high enough tech level (I'm picking 10 for simplicity and convenience) the degree of automation (and, let's be honest, crew safety) ought to dictate substantially "unmanned" automated remote turret systems (in that there's no one physically IN the turret during combat) and that the crew for each turret is stationed elsewhere onboard ship (such as on the bridge or behind bulkheads near the turret itself).
Hope that clarifies things sufficiently on my perspective.
At least in LBB2, reloading missiles requires a gunner in/at the turret (standard magazine capacity is 3 rounds, after which one turn is required to reload). Probably wouldn't be needed for beam weapons, and these days you could probably assume automated reloading from TL-8 onward. But LBB2 is four decades old, and back then they expected it to need much higher tech than it actually does. If it were automated, the one-turn wait the rules call for wouldn't be needed. (Then again, LBB5 ignores ammunition altogether, so.)
It's also a role-playing/immersion feature. If you're the one doing the shooting, it puts you at a specific risk for injury from hostile fire that's different than those who aren't shooting (though they're vulnerable too if their systems get hit).
I just was curious contrasting, for example, the B-17 and it's manned turrets vs the B-29 and its remotely operated turrets vs something like the Phalanx CIWS "if it flies, it dies" which CAN (but typically doesn't) fire autonomously, but is, of course, "unmanned". It's just a bot asking for permission to kill things.
Spinward Flow
SOC-14 5K
This is the correct assumption, hence the "overseen by sophonts" line above.
The buttons for that permission set do not need to be located exclusively inside of the turret.
True.
In a campaign I was playing in (decades ago now), one of the PCs was a Gunner and when the ship sustained a weapon damage result he was injured because he was inside the turret that got hit and damaged (damaging him too in the process).
The key point is that the game mechanics themselves leave the question relatively open ended, so the real arbiter of interpretation is the Referee.
Condottiere
SOC-14 5K
I've always assumed that you need a half tonne workstation in the turret, though, however this was originally calculated, fourteen cubic metres isn't sufficient space for whatever is going on in there.
You know the turrets on the B29 where remote turrets.
Condottiere
SOC-14 5K
First off power plants don’t require fuel, that is taken care of durning annual maintenance.
Maneuver drives do require fuel, most often it is water. Volume is 0.01*Vol*Md#. So effectively 1% ship volume per drive number. Fuel endurance is 48hrs of constant burn at drive max.
Simple computer rules are in play. Computer rating is the rating of all installed electronics. Thus renamed Electronics to illustrate this.
Armor is based on first edition high guard a hull is either armored or it’s not. The smallest hull that can be armored is 200 tons. Armor gives a 4+ save vs every hit.
Railgun replace Pulse Lasers, they roll to hit twice for each shoot, with the same DMs as the pulse laser. Note there is a Light Railgun as well which roles once for a hit and is limited to short range. It is most frequently seen on smallcraft. (Note a 10 ton Fighter can carry one and two missile racks.)
Particle Barbettes and turret are +2 to hit, 2 hits and 1 radiation hit. Armor will effect the regular hits, but it takes nuclear damper to stop the radiation Hit.
Note the rules are mashup of Book2 and Mayday currently.
Maneuver drives do require fuel, most often it is water. Volume is 0.01*Vol*Md#. So effectively 1% ship volume per drive number. Fuel endurance is 48hrs of constant burn at drive max.
Simple computer rules are in play. Computer rating is the rating of all installed electronics. Thus renamed Electronics to illustrate this.
Armor is based on first edition high guard a hull is either armored or it’s not. The smallest hull that can be armored is 200 tons. Armor gives a 4+ save vs every hit.
Railgun replace Pulse Lasers, they roll to hit twice for each shoot, with the same DMs as the pulse laser. Note there is a Light Railgun as well which roles once for a hit and is limited to short range. It is most frequently seen on smallcraft. (Note a 10 ton Fighter can carry one and two missile racks.)
Particle Barbettes and turret are +2 to hit, 2 hits and 1 radiation hit. Armor will effect the regular hits, but it takes nuclear damper to stop the radiation Hit.
Note the rules are mashup of Book2 and Mayday currently.
Umm...wut?
Me thinks you have that backward.
Power Plants consume fuel (Fusion plants, consume LHyd), and produce electrons. Lots and lots (even watts and watts!) of electrons.
Maneuver Drives run on electrons. Fuel the power plant, power the M-Drive. CT M-Drives do not require reaction mass.
"Power plant fuel under the formula (10Pn) allows routine operations and maneuver for four weeks." Bk2-Pg 15
Jump drives require lots of fuel, for what is under continual debate and discussion.
Go check Beltstrike... 0.05 Td per G per day. (presumably per 100Td, since it's fixated on 100Td Seekers.
Basic ship power is 0.07 Td per day.
CT is self-inconsistent.
Let's clarify that...
Clearly they wanted the fuel mechanic for this module to add something to the adventure. But that mechanic didn't carry forward in to MT, it's also not in the Traveller Book. And we all know this was never a concern until TNE (where it was absolutely a first class concept). Otherwise we wouldn't have been having endless chatter about "C ships" and other issues with M-Drives with essentially infinite power.
TNE-FFS states:
T4 states:
So, sure, Beltstrike may have a special mechanic for those adventures. But the concept didn't get carried forward. And nothing suggests the Power Plants do not use fuel.
The future is a plush rabbit beating on a drum and standing on a thruster plate, forever.
... it just keeps going and going and going....
My players would figure out how to run a 10,000 ton free trader.
CT friendly. I like it.
I’m using the plasma thruster as maneuver drive, following the CT77 model.
Note it’s note that they don’t use fuel, it is that power plants are refueled at the annual mantinance.
Condottiere
SOC-14 5K
Power plants consume the same fuel rate, regardless of actual usage.
I believe the cold fusion option, in other editions, make it like watering plants.
I believe the cold fusion option, in other editions, make it like watering plants.
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