Low-tech Scout Car

[sabredog]

I introduced this vehicle into my campaign after thinking about what sort of useful vehicle could be carried in a Scout Ship that would replace the air/raft.

It may seem counter-intuitive for a starship vehicle, but when you think about how often the scouts are out there on frequently low-tech worlds and may need to have an auxiliary vehicle that can be easily fixed with little more than hand tools and maybe local parts. Grav modules don't grow on trees and what if there isn't a power source to recharge them if the scout runs out of battery power far from the ship?

So I came up with this thing. It's cheap, clunky, and low-tech but works well in the context of what it is made for. In the words of Dudley Moore's character in "Crazy People", "It's boxy but good."





FAC-6 ATV (Scout Service) TL-9


Built for the Scout Service as a light scout car carried on colony protection and survey missions the FAC (Fast Attack Car)-6 is one of a wide range of such low tech exploration and combat vehicles. The hallmarks of the FAC series is low tech design for simple maintenance of even primitive worlds and compact size for ease of transport on even 100 ton Scoutships yet capable of carrying a full four-man crew (the usual number of crew on a Type S unless a singleship mission. The vehicle is modular in so far as the power plant is designed so that even a single person can easily swap out even a lower tech engine if required; the electric drives in the wheels only need a source of power regardless of the source type.

This model is 4 tons and can be carried in the same space as an Air/Raft, has 6 independently driven wheels that use an MHD Turbine for power. It carries a crew of two (driver and commander/gunner) and has jump seats in the rear compartment for two personnel.

Access to the vehicle is either through the rear ramp and compartment into the driver's seat in the front, or into the turret in the top middle. The driver and commander also have their own top hatches for direct access. The rear compartment has two jump seats, cargo capacity for all four crew's equipment and supplies, and the turbine unit housed in the roof above. The rear compartment has a bulkhead with a hatch separating it from the mid to forward section.

Fuel for a 200km range is stored in cells on either side of the rear compartment outside the armor protecting the interior areas. Up to three modular fuel tanks can be fitted to the rear exterior for another 100km range each.

The vehicle commonly has a single person turret that can be equipped with a wide array of equipment including weapons or scientific/observation gear. The service usually leaves the crews of ships carrying these vehicles a wide degree of discretion when outfitting the turret for the expected mission at hand. The turret and driver's position have thermal imaging vision and map box datalinks with the communications suite (500km range comms). The "average" FAC-6 will have plenty of sensor gear and recording instruments in the turret along with a light weapon, such as a laser rifle or light machine gun.

The FAC series relies on speed and their small size for survivability under fire and are lightly armored with composite materials. The interior has an overpressure system for use in hazardous atmospheres and radiation, but the rear compartment can be used as a sort of single-person air lock in such cases to prevent internal contamination when the crew exit.


Size: 4 tons

Speeds: 120kph on roads
80kph X-Country

Range: 200 km base range
(3 exterior bolt-on fuel modules add 100 km each for potential total of 500km.)

Armor: Equivalent to Combat Armor (CT rules)

The turret has a half cubic meter for equipment to be added by the user, and a pintel mount for a weapon if the user has filled up the available space. Otherwise a weapon or two can be added to the .5 cubic meter volume.

The turret is very low profile, about .5 meters high, so overhead clearance on even a Type-S Scout is not a problem. The power pack can easily be replaced with one from an air/raft if a rechargeable source is desired - which gives an idea of the requirements for the vehicle's wheel motors. The exterior fuel modules each take up about as much space a 5-gallon jerry can to give an idea of how much volume is available for cargo to be strapped on the vehicle if the fuel cells are removed. If an air/raft power pack is used then the cells can be swapped out for three extra battery packs to extend the vehicle's endurance by 24 hours each.

The FAC-6 has tow hooks on the front and rear, and a 2 ton winch on the front along with two spot lights the driver or commander can operate and aim from inside the vehicle.

 

[kilemall]

Ya I worked out something like that recently, consider building a towed 2-ton module you attach to this main unit, it has whatever mission specific lab/survey/specimen capture & contain/medical/expeditionary support the specific scout mission needs.


Stow the right prepackaged tow module on board the 3-ton cargo bay, and instant modularity at a far cheaper price then altering scout ships or having modular cutters. And you got 1 ton of cargo left! What could go wrong?

 

[sabredog]

That's 1 ton of space perfect for encouraging enterprising player-smugglers.

Of course you have to unload the cargo hold to get the truck out, but a ton of high tech weapons we'll sell to the local rubes will make it worth it, right?

 

[Diveguy]

I like the concept of a non-air-raft Scout all-purpose low tech vehicle, but am taking it in a different direction. Haven't really statted it out, but my take would be more similar to a "modern" off-road-racing vehicle setup. Not all the way up to a pick-up truck, but something along the lines of the Chenworth desert patrol vehicles, or the more modern Light Strike Vehicle, and similar "Baja"-style runabouts - more than a quad bike, less than a truck.

This gives you most of the advantages you discuss above in a smaller, lighter, easier to maintain package. Depending on how you play your tech you're dealing with anything from simple metal tubing up to 3D printed polymers for your frame and components, etc.

I really like your modular power idea. Have the resources and tech level? Small fusion plant. Lower grade? Fuel cells and the like. All the way down to internal combustion engines if the scout gets stuck somewhere at that level.

Downside - no, you don't have the 1 ton of cargo space. But, since I view my Scouts more as exploration, contact and resource location, heavy cargo isn't an issue. Additionally, this matches with the Scout mentality of moving light and fast to avoid issues, rather than the Naval philosophy of slugging it out.

Just my late-day take on things.

 

[Enoki]

Here I thought a low tech scout car was something like this:



The big gun is optional.

 

[sabredog]

LOL! That's the Scout Car they end up with when they check out their ship from the base.

Along with the forever persistent garbage smell in the ventilators and weird stains in the carpets that won't come out.


"Yup, she's been ridden pretty hard and put away wet but they don't make ships like this anymore. And 60 years isn't too bad considering the Service lends you this baby for free."

"I don't know where the air/raft went, or the official wheeled car, but the last crew said this one worked pretty good and they only drove it on Sundays."

 

[Enoki]

Then the official adds, "Besides, where you're going, it'll fit right in..."

 

[sabredog]

Sounds like the start of a good time!

 

[Condottiere]

That's a technical.

Technically, a borrowed SUV or pick up costs nothing.

 

[whartung]

I envision a scout vehicle more like these:




Maybe a buggy for fast patrol and light scouting.

Or an armed version as support:

 

[coliver988]

Also, the "jeep" from one of the Star Trek movies:

 

[Enoki]

I see the situation, be it a vehicle for scouts, or a weapon, or anything else, as a function first of economics and then everything else. Traveller is largely a game of economics. You have to have money to buy stuff to do things.
Therefore, whatever vehicle you are going to use for some purpose has to be affordable. Sure, somebody makes the 100,000 cr. "perfect" low-tech ATV you need, but when you have just 10,000 cr. to spend on one, you end up with what you can afford, not what you dream of having.
You might well, and probably usually will, find that your low cost choice was just as viable as your you expensive dream machine.
I'd think the Scout service is that way. The local administration has a budget, and your vehicle request doesn't fit in it. You get something that will do, not something that will overdo.

For example, the show Top Gear pretty much proved that a Toyota Hilux pickup was nearly indestructible. If something like it will get the job done why issue you some massively expensive top-of-the-line military grade vehicle to some scouts when it will put a big hole in your budget?

In fact, the low tech, simple, low cost solution can be better in other ways. If you and your party can fix the vehicle with simple, common, tools and parts then there's a big advantage over a complex vehicle with all the bells and whistles that becomes a pile of junk the first time it breaks down because you have neither the tools, parts, or expertise to fix it.

It's one thing to be the Imperial Army with an Imperial Navy ship in orbit full of technicians that can fix whatever vehicle you are using regardless of its complexity, compared to a few scouts on some backwater world that have to rely on what they have at hand, and maybe what the local blacksmith can bang out in his TL 4 shop.

 

[sabredog]

Exactly!

Grav vehicles have sealed up modules for grav propulsion and use a lot of power that really only a fusion plant is efficient at generating. In fact, to maybe make it even worse, the rules have always pointed out that in addition tothe above modules the grav vehicles are designed ot be as user-friendly and safety enhanced. Like if you run out of power, the vehicle will slowly descend to the ground as per the CT decreption of grav belts and air/rafts.

I think we can all see the problems with that sort of rigid fail-safe control built into a vehicle that will be used under pretty extreme conditions. You get low of power under pursuit and suddenly your advantage in speed and altitude form the cannibals on the ground vanishes as the craft uses the last reserves (which might have been enough to get away) to bring you safely to the ground while activating the emer beacon. Amusing in play but bad design.

I like the low-tech approach for the Scouts because they often operate a long way away form support and also need be able to adapt what they have to nearly any environment they find themselves in. A simple vehicle that can be operated with anything from animal to steam to fusion power is perfect for them. Also, ground vehicles are not subject to the limits on flying in bad or extreme weather.

I have this example with 6 individually powered wheels. You can lose two and still tun fine by rearranging adn cannibalizing the two damaged ones. They use ordinary elecrtic motors that rely on a seperate power supply so you dont need a complex power train to add to the systems that can break. The turret isn't even powered since it is so small and just one man standing in it.

It has a Hilux philosophy to its design. IMHO

 

[sabredog]

Also, the "jeep" from one of the Star Trek movies:

See? Perfect. But I prefer to start with six wheels if possible so the redundancy can be used to keep the thing going under hard conditions. You lose one wheel on a four-wheel car and you're dead unless the spare holds up. You can lose two on a six wheeler and keep going by just rearranging the wheels even without a spare.

You also get a lower ground pressure to help with soft ground, and if it is built enclosed you can make it amphibious. The tires can even be the propulsion system for it if you don't want to add a prop or water jet.

But I loved that Star Trek buggy. It reminded me of the FAC designs of the late 70's for the Delta Force and cancelled Rapid Reaction Forcer. Did you know that the original design for the M2 Bradley for the Cavalry even had a motorcycle rack on the back? It was so one of the two dismounts could scout ahead with a nimble little bike that could go where the IFV couldn't.

 

[Enoki]

Seems what you really want is something like this, less the Lucas Electrics of course...

 

[sabredog]

Actually I modeled it after the EE-6 Cascavel IFV made in Brazil without the big gun turret. I imagine a smaller one with a lower profile, but if oyu look at pictures the layout externally is spot on.

6 wheels, low shape, driver in center front and commander standing in small turret. I just imagined a drop down ramp in back and jump seats for two back there, which room is made for by moving the larger part of the power plant onto the rear roof...like protruding halfway through, and elevating the rear deck to a more horizontal aspect than the EE-6 uses.

The things sin't meant to stand up to serious fight - the armor is to help keep it together in hostile environmental conditions not 20mm shells barrages. It'll also keep out spears and arrows from the primitive Whatsit tribes on Thatplace III. The turret is intended to be loaded up with sensors and science instruments monitored in the vehicle, but we all know what is really fitted into that thing once players get a hold of it.

But yeah, I guess a Humber or Saracen will work, too, as a model for the type. Another type of current model would be something like a six-wheeled M117 Commando or a even a Russian BRDM. Mainly it has to be smaller than the usual 10-tom ATV on 6 wheels. Cheap. And can be field-modified with a wrench, hammer, and blowtorch. A friendly Whatsit tribes-thing smith is a useful option if available.

 

[Straybow]

Hmmm, MHD is lousy at small-scale low temperature conditions in a vehicle that size. The exhaust from MHD is the highest temperature for a charge-neutral gas, about 1300° C, so you're throwing away most of your energy.



A simple gas turbine is way better, using compressed hydrogen that you siphon off your starship's fuel supply. If you want a semi-closed system you have to supply your own oxidizer.

 

[Condottiere]

Amphibious.

 

[sabredog]

Then you want the even more amphibious version:

"Now with an actual propeller!"....

 

[coliver988]

if you consider TL 7/8ish low tech, there are some interesting possibilities here that could work as Scout cars:

https://www.drivingline.com/articles/6-end-of-world-overland-rides-designed-to-outlive-the-apocalypse/