The 200 ton Safari Ship design contest!

[robject]

In the spirit of the Yacht design contest, here's one for the Safari Ship.

The Challenge

Design a 200 ton Safari Ship.

Guidelines and Scoring Rationale

I will rate designs with a point value from 0 to 100. The points don't matter. And they're subjective.

1. SIZE (20 points)It should displace 200 tons.
   • 15 points if it's within 100 to 400 tons.
   • Full points if it's 200 tons.
2. RULES (20 points)It should use a published design system.
   • *Zero* points if I can't deduce the rule system used. So please note it.
   • -5 points per additional ruleset grafted in.
   • Homebrew gets scrutinized in a most critical and draconian fashion.
   • Non-Traveller rule systems are OK (e.g. Starfinder, SpaceMaster...).
3. MISSION (20 points)It should reflect the mission of the Safari Ship, rather than a Yacht.
   • COTI has the most trouble with this area.
4. TEXT (20 points)It should have a descriptive paragraph.
   • Something with the level of detail of the old LBB2 ship design descriptive paragraphs is good. It doesn't have to be THAT format of course.
   • If I'm wading through a *lot* of text, AND I can't easily zero in on above descriptive data, then I'll get cranky.
5. LIMITS (20 points)It should be Jump-2, Maneuver-1.
   • -5 points for every rating level off the mark.

SCOREBOARD

Name	Tons	Rules	Mission	Text	Limits	TOTAL	RANK

 

[Spinward Flow]

MISSION (20 points)It should reflect the mission of the Safari Ship, rather than a Yacht.

• COTI has the most trouble with this area.

Snerk.

LIMITS (20 points)It should be Jump-2, Maneuver-1.

I honestly feel like this is an unforced error.
Jump-2, Maneuver-2 make a LOT more sense in the broader scheme of things for a wilderness survival starship that ought to be capable of ocean water refueling ... including at worlds with a higher than average surface gravity of 1G+ (Size: 8+).

Jump-2, Maneuver-1 works best for a wilderness survival starship that intends to remain orbital and uses a small craft to interface with world surfaces, including refueling (cue the collapsible fuel tank in the cargo bay for flexible mission roles!).

 

[Timerover51]

Robject, will you ding someone for making it Jump-2, Maneuver-2? At 200 tons, it would be a custom hull.

 

[Spinward Flow]

Robject, will you ding someone for making it Jump-2, Maneuver-2? At 200 tons, it would be a custom hull.

Under LBB2, anything that isn't A/A/A drives requires a custom hull at 200 tons ... so any kind of J2/1G mandate enforces custom hulls only for 200 ton ships anyway.

 

[Grav_Moped]

Snerk.

I honestly feel like this is an unforced error.
Jump-2, Maneuver-2 make a LOT more sense in the broader scheme of things for a wilderness survival starship that ought to be capable of ocean water refueling ... including at worlds with a higher than average surface gravity of 1G+ (Size: 8+).

Jump-2, Maneuver-1 works best for a wilderness survival starship that intends to remain orbital and uses a small craft to interface with world surfaces, including refueling (cue the collapsible fuel tank in the cargo bay for flexible mission roles!).

Also, the Sup 4 version was written in the context of LBB2'77, not '81 (the 50Td fuel for J2+1G is the giveaway even before checking the publication date). The consequence of adding 1G is far higher under the '77 rules since it also requires upgrading the power plant and adding fuel, where under the '81 rules those components are already required for the Jump Drive.

This is also at issue with the early version of the Type A2 Far Trader (e.g. the Scotian Huntress in DA6, Night of Conquest), corrected by the version presented in A3, Twilight's Peak.

 

[Timerover51]

Under LBB2, anything that isn't A/A/A drives requires a custom hull at 200 tons ... so any kind of J2/1G mandate enforces custom hulls only for 200 ton ships anyway.

I understand that. As a first cut approximation for a 200 ton ship with Jump-2 and 2G maneuver, I come up with the following. Twenty-five displacement tons for the engineering section, 20 tons for the bridge, and 60 tons for the fuel. Before you get to anything else, 105 tons of available ship volume is used.

I was thinking more on the order of a 400 ton ship similar in build to a Subsidized Merchant from Supplement 7. D power plant and drives for Jump-2 and 2G Maneuver take up 45 tons of volume, while the engineering space is capable of handling 50 tons. So, no problem there. Then 80 tons for Jump fuel and 20 tons for maneuvering and power plant, plus 20 tons for the Bridge all adds up to 150 tons of volume, leaving 250 tons for the ship's special operations. I figure that it will need at least one ship's boat of some form, plus at least two vehicles of some type, depending on the exact operation to be carried out. That gives space for extra crew to cater to the guests and possible captive creatures, as well as operate the additional vehicles. For power during the Jump and while landed or orbiting, I would add a Type A power plant, and include in that volume a cubic meter of heavy water, which should be good for at least a year or more of operations. That would take up 4 of the remaining 5 tons of engineering space.

 

[AnotherDilbert]

Under LBB2, anything that isn't A/A/A drives requires a custom hull at 200 tons ... so any kind of J2/1G mandate enforces custom hulls only for 200 ton ships anyway.

Yes, and custom hulls are expensive.

J-2 in a 200 Dt chassis makes very little sense in LBB2, step up to a 400 Dt standard hull for 250% of the payload for 150% of the price. Still not even remotely profitable, of course...

 

[Spinward Flow]

Still not even remotely profitable, of course...

Let's not be too hasty on that point.

The most expensive construction components of a starship are drives and computer ... since fuel and cargo space are "free" in terms of MCr costs.

The most expensive routine operational overhead costs are crew salaries and life support for crew and passengers ... with life support costs equal to the cost of an Engineering-1 crewman salary per 4 weeks of operations.

So a ship with "low power drives" that skimps on the computer model and has a lean crew manning CAN BE profitable in a low end ACS ... you just need to be really careful with how you build it (and the expected business model use case for operating it).

 

[robject]

Robject, will you ding someone for making it Jump-2, Maneuver-2? At 200 tons, it would be a custom hull.

Yep, it'll cost you 5 points.

• -5 points for every rating level off the mark.

 

[AnotherDilbert]

Let's not be too hasty on that point.

Standard LBB2 design, 400 Dt standard hull, J-2, M-2:

MT-42222R1-000000-00000-0        MCr 105         400 Dton
bearing                                            Crew=5
batteries                                            TL=9
                        Cargo=209 Fuel=100 EP=8 Agility=2

Spoiler:

Single Occupancy    LBB2 design                   209       116,7
                                     USP    #     Dton       Cost
Hull, Streamlined      400 Dt          4          400         
Configuration       Cone               2                     20
Scoops              Streamlined                               

Engineering                                         5         
Jump Drive          D                  2    1      25        40
Manoeuvre D         D                  2    1       7        16
Power Plant         D                  2    1      13        32
Fuel, #J, #weeks    J-2, 4 weeks            2     100         
                                                              
Bridge                                      1      20         2
Computer            m/1bis             R    1       1         4
                                                              
Staterooms                                  5      20         2,5
                                                              
Cargo                                             209         
                                                              
Empty hardpoint                             2                 0,2
                                                              
Nominal Cost        MCr 116,70           Sum:     209       116,7
Class Cost          MCr  12,84          Valid      ≥0          ≥0
Ship Cost           MCr 105,03                                 
                                                              
                                                              
Crew &               High     0        Crew          Bridge     2
Passengers            Mid     0           5       Engineers     2
                      Low     0                     Gunners     0
                 Extra SR     0      Frozen         Service     1
               # Frozen W     0           0          Flight     0
                  Marines     0                     Marines     0

Estimated Economy of Ship     Standard                                   
       Ship price     Down Payment         Mortgage       Avg Filled
       MCr 105,03       kCr 21 006          kCr 438              80%
                                                              
Expenses per jump                       Revenue               
Bank                Cr 210 060          High           Cr       0
Fuel                Cr  50 000          Middle         Cr       0
Life Support        Cr  10 000          Low            Cr       0
Salaries            Cr  10 080          Cargo          Cr 164 000
Maintenance         Cr   4 201                                 
Berthing            Cr     400                                 
                                                              
Summa              kCr     285                        kCr     164
                                                              
     Income potential per jump     kCr -121                 
  Yearly yield on down payment     -14,4%

Not profitable at standard rates. Pax are slightly better, but not all that much.
Would possibly be able to make it with a Subsidy?

 

[Spinward Flow]

Not profitable at standard rates.

And this is where you need to start your "lateral thinking to profitability" computations.

You have 5 crew, which I presume are: pilot, navigator, chief engineer, engineer and medic.

Pilot and navigator roles are routinely combined in a number of LBB2 and LBB S7 ship designs (so it's certainly nothing new) ... but look at what it does to the overhead financing:

• Pilot-1 = Cr3000 per jump (Cr6000 per month)
• Navigator-1 = Cr2500 per jump (Cr5000 per month)
• 2 staterooms = 8 tons + Cr4000 life support cost per jump
• Net total overhead cost = Cr9500 per jump for pilot + navigator (2 crew)

Compare that with:

• Pilot-2/Navigator-2 = Cr4537.5 per jump (Cr9075 per month)
• 1 stateroom = 4 tons + Cr2000 life support cost per jump
• 4 additional tons cargo capacity = 3 tons extra cargo revenue (75% average fill) = Cr3000 additional revenue
• Net total overhead cost = Cr3537.5 per jump for pilot/navigator (1 crew)

In other words, by your own setup, going with a pilot/navigator single crewman costs only 37% as much in overhead expenses compared to the pilot plus navigator two crewmen alternative. The pilot/navigator draws more pay in salary, but consumes less stateroom tonnage and life support than the alternative.

And if you can have one person fill two positions like that for a Pilot/Navigator (assuming they have the minimum skills of Pilot-2 and Navigator-2) yielding a salary cost formula that looks like this:
[ (6000 * 1.1) + (5000 * 1.1) ] * 0.75 = 9075 per 4 weeks / 2 = 4537.5 per 2 weeks

... so long as you can find pilot/navigators with the necessary skills to fill both roles simultaneously, the economics of the ship prospers when it comes to the bottom line of the balance sheet. Note that pilot/navigator crew position combination offer is not valid for Aslan crews who maintain gender stereotyping of crew roles.



Do the same thing for having a (chief) Engineering-1 plus Engineering-1 (2 crew) option vs the alternative of having an engineer/engineer (1 crew) who only needs Engineering-2 skill to fill both crew positions with one person.

• (chief) Engineering-1 = Cr2200 per jump (Cr4400 per month)
• Engineering-1 = Cr2000 per jump (Cr4000 per month)
• 2 staterooms = 8 tons + Cr4000 life support cost per jump
• Net total overhead cost = Cr8200 per jump for (chief) engineer + engineer (2 crew)

Compare that with:

• Engineering-2/Engineering-2 = Cr3300 per jump (Cr6600 per month)
• 1 stateroom = 4 tons + Cr2000 life support cost per jump
• 4 additional tons cargo capacity = 3 tons extra cargo revenue (75% average fill) = Cr3000 additional revenue
• Net total overhead cost = Cr2300 per jump for engineer/engineer (1 crew)

In other words, by your own setup, going with an engineer/engineer single crewman costs only 28% as much in overhead expenses compared to the chief engineer plus engineer two crewmen alternative. The (solo) engineer/engineer draws more pay in salary, but consumes less stateroom tonnage and life support than the alternative.



All else being equal, I can take your example starship design above "as is" ... shrink the crew down from 5 to 3 (pilot/navigator, engineer/engineer, medic) and shift the expenses vs revenues balance from:

• Cr10,700 per jump (salaries 5) and Cr10,000 per jump (life support 5) totalling Cr20,700 per jump for crew and life support (for 5)
• Cr8837.5 per jump (salaries 3) and Cr6000 per jump (life support 3) totalling Cr14,837.5 per jump for crew and life support (for 3) while also having 8 extra tons of cargo space which at 75% average fill would earn an additional Cr6000 in revenue per jump

So just by changing to crew arrangement/requirement, expenses drop from Cr20,700 per jump to pay for 5 salaries and life support down to Cr8837.5 per jump for 3 salaries and life support ... a savings of Cr11,862.5 per jump.

Or I could trade in that extra cargo space for a fuel purification plant (go figure...) instead and save Cr40,000 when needing to buy unrefined fuel ... or save Cr50,000 when wilderness refueling is an option ... per jump.



Trade out some of the cargo space for high passenger staterooms and low berths (which are more "revenue dense" per ton than cargo transportation, "upgrade" the medic to being a steward/medic (I'm thinking Steward-1/Medic-3) and you're still going to be coming out ahead. The revenue potential goes up while the expenses do not increase all that much and ... you're within spitting distance of being able to turn a profit, even under a bank loan and operating at only 80% of manifest capacity (using CT rules, to be specific).



This is the kind of thing that I've been talking about how "tinkering around the edges" like this can make a very minor difference to the Naval Architect's office work, but which can make an extremely substantial difference in the economics and profitability of a starship's operations.

Note that your example above, when moving to a "lean crew" option like I've detailed could potentially be profitable on a charter basis ... and if it can carry mail, the odds of the ship being profitable just from passenger and transport services goes up even more (mail is relatively "revenue dense" compared to cargo).



Just something to think about ...

 

[AnotherDilbert]

And back to a Safari ship design:

Since the design brief forces a bog-standard Safari-ship, I can at least choose a bit exotic design system: FF&S.
As an added bonus, since we there have contra-grav, a 1 G main drive is enough to land on the vast majority of planets.

I can steal the blurb from A10:

In a class along with the yacht and the personal touring ship is the safari ship – designed for expeditions to strange or far-off worlds in search of adventure and excitement. The general pretext for the ship is the hunt; its passengers are in search of animal or plant life to be found, captured, or killed. In actual use, the ship can (and does) support a wide variety of activities in addition to hunting. These can include scientific expeditions, treasure hunts, salvage missions, and even simple vacations or retreats.

Safari Ship (type K): Using a 200-ton hull, the safari ship is an excursion vessel intended for trophy-taking (actual or images) expeditions to other worlds. Hull armour is slightly upgraded to 1.4 cm (Armour 20) to keep hostile environments out. It has a performance of jump-2 and 1 G acceleration. Fuel tankage supports the power plant, 30 Gturns of acceleration, and one jump-2. The ship is equipped with fuel scoops and purifiers for wilderness refueling. There are eight large staterooms (accommodations includes a dining room and a salon with displays for trophies), and ten crew and staff staterooms. The ship has one empty turret socket for a standard turret. There is a Ship's Boat carried in an external grapple. Cargo capacity is 65 tons, but most of that is filled by demountable tanks; 4 Dt remains free. The empty turret socket might be used for some extra storage space. Two 4-ton multi-environment capture tanks and ten low berths can hold specimens. The hull is fully streamlined (airframe).
The safari ship requires a crew of six: Captain, pilot, navigator, sensor operator, and two engineers. A gunner and additional personnel such as stewards, medics, and gunsmiths may be added. The pilot normally operates the boat.

Spoiler:

 

[AnotherDilbert]

So just by changing to crew arrangement/requirement, expenses drop from Cr20,700 per jump to pay for 5 salaries and life support down to Cr8837.5 per jump for 3 salaries and life support ... a savings of Cr11,862.5 per jump.

You might find the highly skilled people you seek, to serve on a small tramp freighter, or you may not. In any case the ship loses kCr 120 per jump, that might save kCr 11, so we need to find another ~kCr 110 to break even.

Or I could trade in that extra cargo space for a fuel purification plant (go figure...)...

Not in LBB2, sadly.

 

[Spinward Flow]

Not in LBB2, sadly.

LBB5.80 lets you use LBB2.81 "off the shelf" parts and components if you would like to do that ...

 

[AnotherDilbert]

LBB5.80 lets you use LBB2.81 "off the shelf" parts and components if you would like to do that ...

LBB5 can use LBB2 drives, not the other way around. The discussion started with specifically LBB2 ships.

A LBB5 ship opens up a whole lot of possibilities, e.g. cheaper hulls and larger standard discount.

 

[Enoki]

This is a safari ship based on the standard Empress Marva class far trader. 200 tons, J2 M1. As a Traveller staple, the particulars are well known otherwise.

The finer points of the design--aside from it being a common design (eg., cheaper)

Has (as shown) 8 guest staterooms, but this could be reduced to 6 or less depending on how many passengers you expect. Single or double occupancy.
The lounge is large for socializing and includes a large viewing window in the middle forward.
The air raft compartment is gone, and any vehicles carried go in the cargo bay.
The crew is 5+ and has separate quarters on the lower deck from the passengers. Separating the crew and passengers gives the feel of exclusivity to the passengers.
There is a well-equipped galley that can prepare food including stuff the guests hunt and kill.
The secure storage on the starboard lower deck is to hold things like firearms and personal gear of the guests safely.
The two turrets shown are optional for self-defense of the ship, but don't have to be fitted.
On the port side lower deck are 4 large low berths that can hold large animals that are either to be game that is hunted, or game that is captured.
The cargo bay stays pressurized during operation and has the room to hold supplies, animals captured or for hunting, vehicles, personal gear, and the like.
The lounge can be decorated with appropriate hunting motifs and decor.
There is a bar and the ship has amenities like a laundry. It is designed for extended operations and has fuel scoops and a processing plant.

This means the ship can be used both for hunting and capture of animals as well as for transport of the same to other worlds. It has room for incidental cargo as well, and plenty of space to carry a grav vehicle or two, an ATV or other ground vehicle. The large cargo ramp makes access to the bay easy.

 

[Timerover51]

Robject, given some of my ideas on how to build a ship, which includes crew standing 8 hours watches, which triples the crew size, I do not think that it is worthwhile to participate with such rigid restrictions. I also scale the cost of the hull based on size, not the artificial Traveller Chart on costs, and ignore the automatic build time of 36 months for any custom ship. The issue should be what design represents the best Safari Ship, not what you can try to do on 200 Tons Displacement.

It is your contest, though, so have fun.

 

[AnotherDilbert]

Failing the specifications we have the CT Budget Van/People-carrier/Yacht/Safari-ship:

Cheap space-van with ~55 Dt payload, generally filled with staterooms and used as a people carrier. Here presented as the "Safari Excursion" model:

100 Dt, streamlined, purif, J-1, M-1, 8 High Pass, 11 Dt cargo, Air/raft, TL-13, MCr 27.
Fully capable of wilderness refuelling, M-1 so can land on most (low grav) planets.
10 staterooms, so up to 8 high passengers. Max capacity 20 people.
11 Dt cargo, so can get 2×J-1 range with a demountable tank.
1 emergency low berth for emergencies, or live samples.
One or more staterooms can be replaced with alien environment tanks (capture tanks).

YS-1611111-000000-00000-0       MCr 26,8         100 Dton
bearing                                            Crew=2
batteries                                           TL=13
             Pass=8 Low=1 Cargo=11 Fuel=11 EP=1 Agility=1

Spoiler:

Single Occupancy                                   11        33,3
                                     USP    #     Dton       Cost
Hull, Streamlined   Custom             1          100           
Configuration       Flattened Sphe     6                      8 
Scoops              Streamlined                               0,1
                                                                
Jump Drive                             1    1       2         8 
Manoeuvre D                            1    1       2         3 
Power Plant                            1    1       2         6 
Fuel, #J, #weeks    J-1, 4 weeks            1       1           
Purifier                                    1       5         0,0
                                                                
Bridge                                      1      20         0,5
Computer            m/1                1    1       1         2 
                                                                
Staterooms                                 10      40         5 
Low Berths          Emergency               1       1         0,1
                                                                
Cargo                                              11           
Demountable Tanks   J-1                     1      10         0,0
                                                                
Empty hardpoint                             1       1           
                                                                
Air/raft            4 Dton                  1       4         0,6
                                                                
Nominal Cost        MCr 33,34            Sum:      11        33,3
Class Cost          MCr  6,88           Valid      ≥0          ≥0
Ship Cost           MCr 26,79                                   
                                                                
                                                                
Crew &               High     8        Crew          Bridge     1
Passengers            Mid     0           2       Engineers     0
                      Low     0                     Gunners     0
                 Extra SR     0      Frozen         Service     1
               # Frozen W     0           0          Flight     0
                  Marines     0                     Marines     0

It's even possible to break even on a charter:

Spoiler:

Estimated Economy of Ship     Standard                                     
       Ship price     Down Payment         Mortgage       Avg Filled
        MCr 26,79        kCr 5 358          kCr 112              90%
                                                                
Expenses per jump                       Revenue                 
Bank                 Cr 53 584          High            Cr 72 000
Fuel                 Cr  1 100          Middle          Cr      0
Life Support         Cr 18 500          Low             Cr      0
Salaries             Cr  3 840          Cargo           Cr  9 000
Maintenance          Cr  1 072                                   
Berthing             Cr    100                                   
                                                                
Summa               kCr     78                         kCr     81
                                                                
     Income potential per jump     kCr 3                   
  Yearly yield on down payment      1,3%

10% cheaper at TL-15, or 10% more expensive at TL-9.

Big enough for small groups, fairly cheap at kCr 170 charter per month.

 

[Condottiere]

The Mystery Machine, where a bunch of apparently really well off young aristocrats solve mysteries.

https://images-wixmp-ed30a86b8c4ca887773594c2.wixmp.com/f/c87f5444-87ba-4729-b423-75f87ca2b743/dd3dafl-3d366c6c-5358-4152-bdcd-b2b7fa63188f.jpg?token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJzdWIiOiJ1cm46YXBwOjdlMGQxODg5ODIyNjQzNzNhNWYwZDQxNWVhMGQyNmUwIiwiaXNzIjoidXJuOmFwcDo3ZTBkMTg4OTgyMjY0MzczYTVmMGQ0MTVlYTBkMjZlMCIsIm9iaiI6W1t7InBhdGgiOiJcL2ZcL2M4N2Y1NDQ0LTg3YmEtNDcyOS1iNDIzLTc1Zjg3Y2EyYjc0M1wvZGQzZGFmbC0zZDM2NmM2Yy01MzU4LTQxNTItYmRjZC1iMmI3ZmE2MzE4OGYuanBnIn1dXSwiYXVkIjpbInVybjpzZXJ2aWNlOmZpbGUuZG93bmxvYWQiXX0.MOSH0xC4vgnCyb_d8a_SoQSID3s50TWaZiILI5azhcY

 

[Grav_Moped]

The Mystery Machine, where a bunch of apparently really well off young aristocrats solve mysteries.

https://images-wixmp-ed30a86b8c4ca887773594c2.wixmp.com/f/c87f5444-87ba-4729-b423-75f87ca2b743/dd3dafl-3d366c6c-5358-4152-bdcd-b2b7fa63188f.jpg?token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJzdWIiOiJ1cm46YXBwOjdlMGQxODg5ODIyNjQzNzNhNWYwZDQxNWVhMGQyNmUwIiwiaXNzIjoidXJuOmFwcDo3ZTBkMTg4OTgyMjY0MzczYTVmMGQ0MTVlYTBkMjZlMCIsIm9iaiI6W1t7InBhdGgiOiJcL2ZcL2M4N2Y1NDQ0LTg3YmEtNDcyOS1iNDIzLTc1Zjg3Y2EyYjc0M1wvZGQzZGFmbC0zZDM2NmM2Yy01MzU4LTQxNTItYmRjZC1iMmI3ZmE2MzE4OGYuanBnIn1dXSwiYXVkIjpbInVybjpzZXJ2aWNlOmZpbGUuZG93bmxvYWQiXX0.MOSH0xC4vgnCyb_d8a_SoQSID3s50TWaZiILI5azhcY

Gotta do something about that absurdly ungainly URL, but LOL.