Thoughts on Scoutrons, Scout Bases etc.

[plop101]

I've been looking at GURPS Starports again, and one thing I came across I'm not so sure about. They list scout bases as supporting 10-12 Scout ships, and 3-4 exploration ships. They list Xboat stations as supporting 2-3 scouts, 2-5 x-boats, and 1 x-boat tender. Also, the x-boat station shown would be planet based {!} not space based, so presumably extra craft will be needed to support the x-boat tender.

Does this sound right? I mean, I would think that there would be more craft at a base then that. Especially in the case fo the x-boat station.

Also, what would you think about the J2 scoutrons being composed of 50 Type S Scouts? Would that be logical, or would they require more craft [or less]?

 

[far-trader]

Well I recall a good discussion here or on the TML a while back about just how many X-boats would be needed based on how often you want the mail to go out and how many links the system has. The numbers above would seem to suggest IIRC weekly message service, and I guess the Scouts in system could handle routine Tender to Station traffic when not off on courier runs. Personally I prefer daily X-boat message service for each link, and at least weekly Courier runs to systems of note off the route.

Ah there it is, hey and you started that thread too Plop101 so I guess it may not help you much but others may be curious, just go here.

I'm curious, does GURPS Starports say anything about or make a distinction for the old Scout Waystation bases?

The total traffic/support would depend a lot on the kinds of assumptions you make for your game about the total number of scouts, active and dd, how many ships total and the types, how often any of those actually come to a base, and whatever else I'm forgetting

As for the Scoutrons I guess that would depend on the mission profile. Maybe they would take along special J2 Tenders for repairs in the feild, or some other support type vessels, maybe even some Fast Scouts. J2 and 6g might be possible in a Type S if you dumped a lot of other stuff. I'm sure I did some up at one time, now I'll have to look at it for T20

Maybe a command vessel with enhanced sensors and comms to coordinate the whole thing? Probably a small hospital ship. Like I said I guess it depends on what you want or need them to do out there.

 

[plop101]

far Trader writes:

Ah there it is, hey and you started that thread too Plop101 so I guess it may not help you much but others may be curious, just go here.

Yep, that was me, and that old thread is why I found the listing in GURPS Starports a little quizicle [is there such a word as quizicle?] Anyway, IIRC, I thought there should be more Xboats and at least 2 more Xboat Tenders available [assuming 2 on station and 1 at port or maintenance].

Scout Way Stations? Yeah, lemme go look that up [rushes to the bedroom book cabinet] Ahh, yes, all of this stuff is on page 68 of GT: Starports.
It says Way Stations support 2-4 tenders, 200-250 xboats, and 15-20 scouts.

Now I got my trusty Supp 9 out; here it says there are "around 1,000 [Type S Scouts] in the Spinward Marches." Page 11. From the base listing on page 9, we got 64 scout bases and 6 way stations, ok lets say 64 x 12 + 6 x 20 = 888 scouts. Yeah, hmmm, that actually might be logical, I mean, if the rest of the 1000 scouts are corporate or privatly owned.
Ok!

I still think GURPS shorts the Xboats a bit. Especially on the tenders.

Also, if we go by GT: Far Trader and/or Adventure 5 TCS, and you compare what Navys and Merchants would have to be available to make those things work, then you look at the ship encounter tables and discover that there not proportionate; There should be alot less scout and xboat entries and a heck of allot more military and merchant listings. But that gets into the big ship/small ship debate, which be on another thread.

 

[rancke]

Originally posted by plop101:
Now I got my trusty Supp 9 out; here it says there are "around 1,000 [Type S Scouts] in the Spinward Marches." Page 11. From the base listing on page 9, we got 64 scout bases and 6 way stations, ok lets say 64 x 12 + 6 x 20 = 888 scouts. Yeah, hmmm, that actually might be logical, I mean, if the rest of the 1000 scouts are corporate or privatly owned.

Bear in mind that the Type S Scout is not the only type of ship the IISS owns. I'd be surprised if it even was the only type of purpose-built scout ship they own. It is just the cheapest and hence the type most likely to be handed to detached-duty scouts.

The figure of 1000 is said to be a guesstimate, the uncertainty based on the fact that many of them are not in active service. I don't think there would be more than a couple of hundred Type S Scouts in active service in the Marches.


Hans

 

[plop101]

Well, playing with the GURPS stuff, and borrowing from Peter Trevors ship registry over at Stuff Online, I slapped together this bit:

Imperial Scout Service assets, Regina System, 030-1105:

Regina Scout Base

Scout Base Squadron
Alpha Flight
Asp [serpent class]
Algol [sulieman]
Altair *D [sulieman]
Aurora *D [sulieman]
Aerobee [sulieman]

Gamma Flight
Murphys Law *D [sulieman]
Nutshell *D [sulieman]
Python [Serpent Class]
Restraint [sulieman]
Spinward Shemp *D [sulieman]

Epsilon Flight
Balboa [Explorer Class]
Lok'Tor [Donosev Class]
T20 Scout

Alpha and Gamma Flights each have 4 Sulieman Type S Scouts and 1 Serpent Type S Scout.
Ships with the “D” annotation are on Detached Duty.
Epsilon Flight consists of 3 ships tasked for exploration duty. The Explorer Class is a 300dt ship, created by Naval Architect Andy Slack.

Command Flight
Central Axis [sulieman]
T20 Scout

Missing:
Agena, originally attached to Alpha Flight, then detached duty, is on the missing list. Its flight plan took it from Regina to Knorbes and back, but it has been overdue for many weeks.

Regina Xboat Station

Comm Dispatch Scouts
Duplicity [sulieman]
Peachtree [sulieman]
Sidewinder [serpent]

Xboat Detachment
Xboat Tender Winston
Xboat-51216
Xboat-51217
Xboat-51139
Xboat-51651
ZXboat-55427 [nonstandard solar drive Xboat]

Other notes:
Finnally, does the T20 Scout have a class name? I'd like to put down something more definitive than T20 Scout. Also, and I don't know if my fellow CT folks know this, but you can use the T20 Scout using HG2 stats. All you do is chop the fuel down to 22dt. That gives you plenty of space for that cargo bay.