Starting here with an outline, or rather, a concept. I might not go any farther with it, and perhaps don't need to.
The specs of the A2 Far Trader ('81 compliant; that is, pretty much the J2/2G version in Adventure 3) look a lot like what I figure the default IISS requirements ought to be for a semi-expendable 200Td ship. Out-of-universe, it's sized to fit the largest practical player character party -- while you could fit 8 PCs into a Type S, they aren't going to be happy living in it for weeks or months at a time. In-universe, the Scouts will have a need for a ship that can support light but extended survey missions, or transport personnel, or carry replacement drive units to stranded XBoats (and if necessary, lash that XBoat to the hull and drag it to a repair base one parsec at a time).
So, an ordinary A2 would work. But that's too easy!
Key features include the least expensive streamlined hull (stretched sphere from LBB5), and the use of drives already used in other IISS vessels for easier logistics. Those drives include a standard modular drive package for an XBoat (Jump B and Power Plant B -- but unlike in the XBoat, there will be maintenance access from within the ship) and two Size A Maneuver Drives from the Type S Scout/Courier (which somehow take up 3Td instead of 2 because in game terms they're a Maneuver Drive B -- don't think about it too hard, ok?) It may have additional fuel to enable a third parsec of range (1J2+1J1) to parallel the capabilities of the Type S (if the Type S stretches the TCS/JTAS #14 power-down rule to allow weekly increments). I haven't decided on that yet; it's really an out-of-universe excuse to reduce the ship's cargo capacity to make it more amenable to Detached Duty Scout campaigns than Merchant ones.
I've already done up the Type S as a prolate spheroid tailsitter, and this is going to be similar. It'll also serve as a set of plans for an ordinary A2 if you want one in that configuration (just skip the setting fluff about it having two Size A Maneuver Drives instead of a Size B one, and delete the extra 20Td of fuel if my final design includes it), and the hull shape/size could also be used for a Type A Free Trader with some minor drive-bay tweaking and reshuffling of the interior spaces.
This is a work not quite yet in progress.
The specs of the A2 Far Trader ('81 compliant; that is, pretty much the J2/2G version in Adventure 3) look a lot like what I figure the default IISS requirements ought to be for a semi-expendable 200Td ship. Out-of-universe, it's sized to fit the largest practical player character party -- while you could fit 8 PCs into a Type S, they aren't going to be happy living in it for weeks or months at a time. In-universe, the Scouts will have a need for a ship that can support light but extended survey missions, or transport personnel, or carry replacement drive units to stranded XBoats (and if necessary, lash that XBoat to the hull and drag it to a repair base one parsec at a time).
So, an ordinary A2 would work. But that's too easy!
Key features include the least expensive streamlined hull (stretched sphere from LBB5), and the use of drives already used in other IISS vessels for easier logistics. Those drives include a standard modular drive package for an XBoat (Jump B and Power Plant B -- but unlike in the XBoat, there will be maintenance access from within the ship) and two Size A Maneuver Drives from the Type S Scout/Courier (which somehow take up 3Td instead of 2 because in game terms they're a Maneuver Drive B -- don't think about it too hard, ok?) It may have additional fuel to enable a third parsec of range (1J2+1J1) to parallel the capabilities of the Type S (if the Type S stretches the TCS/JTAS #14 power-down rule to allow weekly increments). I haven't decided on that yet; it's really an out-of-universe excuse to reduce the ship's cargo capacity to make it more amenable to Detached Duty Scout campaigns than Merchant ones.
I've already done up the Type S as a prolate spheroid tailsitter, and this is going to be similar. It'll also serve as a set of plans for an ordinary A2 if you want one in that configuration (just skip the setting fluff about it having two Size A Maneuver Drives instead of a Size B one, and delete the extra 20Td of fuel if my final design includes it), and the hull shape/size could also be used for a Type A Free Trader with some minor drive-bay tweaking and reshuffling of the interior spaces.
This is a work not quite yet in progress.
