Type-H Freighter

[Jame]

Book 2 Design. 300 tons. J-2, 2G. 80 tons fuel. Model/2. 15 staterooms, 20 low. 3 hardpoints (1 double turret with pulse laser and sandcaster). Air/raft. 84 tons cargo. Streamlined. 4 crew. 123.35 MCr, 13 months.

Inspired, at least in style, by a Valkyrie-class freighter from an old Terran video game, this relatively new design is designed as a half-step between the Beowulf and Empress Marava Free Traders and the Akkigish Subsidized Merchant. Its main benefits as opposed to the Beowulf are longer legs, and as opposed to the Marava are extra staterooms and cargo.

 

[mike wightman]

What are the letter rating of the drives you've put in this one?
Are they "D" rated drives?

 

[selunatic2397]

Just what I've ben looking for...thanks for sharing!

 

[Jame]

Yes, the drives and power plant are type-D.

And glad to help, selunatic!

 

[RainOfSteel]

Originally posted by Jame:
Book 2 Design. 300 tons. J-2, 2G. 80 tons fuel. 15 staterooms, 20 low. 3 hardpoints (1 double turret with pulse laser and sandcaster). Air/raft. 84 tons cargo. Streamlined. 4 crew. 123.35 MCr, 13 months.

May I ask what computer model is aboard?

 

[Jame]

Ooops. Model/2. Corrected now, thanks for pointing it out!

 

[RainOfSteel]

Jame,

What do you see as the typical computer program load-out for this vessel?

I'm scanning the computer program rules for Book 2, and I can't tell for sure, but programs add several hundreds of thousands of credits in costs (if not millions), but they don't seem to be included in most cost descriptions for starships. My question is, why not?

 

[mike wightman]

Simple answer is they should be
You do get some programs for "free", up to the computer model number in MCr to spend on programs.

 

[Jame]

I did once decide to make the programs cost one-tenth as their Book 2 price. As for a typical load-out, well, that's up to you.

 

[Jame]

Deckplan Challenge! I would like someone to draw up plans for this class of vessel.

What's it look like? All I know is that it's a needle/cylinder with three "wings" on the back: two somewhat diagonally down and one straight up. But if you've ever seen the Valkyrie freighter from Escape Velocity Nova, that's a good place to start!

 

[Black Globe Generator]

A few quick questions?

Originally posted by Jame:
Ooops. Model/2. Corrected now, thanks for pointing it out!

Why not 1bis? Smaller and less expensive, both of which are important to merchants, but still capable of supporting J-2.

Can the owner make enough each month to make the payments? (This is my standard for assessing merchant ship designs.)

Why Type H?

 

[GypsyComet]

Originally posted by Jame:
Deckplan Challenge! I would like someone to draw up plans for this class of vessel.

What's it look like? All I know is that it's a needle/cylinder with three "wings" on the back: two somewhat diagonally down and one straight up. But if you've ever seen the Valkyrie freighter from Escape Velocity Nova, that's a good place to start!

Having hunted down a couple pictures, it has two engines out at the end of those low wings, while the top engine is much closer to the hull.

The hull is otherwise a pretty basic airframe cylinder. At 300 tons, you're probably looking at 3 decks, with some tonnage assumed in the wings for fuel and drives.

 

[far-trader]

You'll have to scan down the page for the Valkyrie pic GypsyComet (darn post won't let me link direct). It's not the best but the easiest I could find:


Ships of the EVN 'verse

When I did a quick estimation it came out to 200tons by my eye. And I have some questions about the design too

So I don't think I'll be getting to deckplans on this one. I'd have to rescale and submit my questions or a new version of the design first

Edit: Darn too slow with my reply, you went and helped yourself

Yep, about 3 decks through the cylinder and thick wings with fuel was about what I was looking at to get 300tons.

 

[GypsyComet]

Edited that request, sorry. That's the same page I ended up on.

The drives are WAY too big for Traveller, and especially so for a merchant (the EVN original being a small warship), but that's an easy fix unless the big engine pods are part of the look Jame wants to maintain.

 

[far-trader]

Oh, and looking at my favorite upgrade package for the Valkyrie (the Pirate Valkyrie adds more bigger guns and another stubby plyon on the top by moving the one over a bit) I'd put the hardpoints as one in the lower nose (chin turret) and two just behind the bridge to port and starboard.

 

[far-trader]

Originally posted by GypsyComet:
Edited that request, sorry. That's the same page I ended up on.

No problem

Originally posted by GypsyComet:
The drives are WAY too big for Traveller, and especially so for a merchant (the EVN original being a small warship), but that's an easy fix unless the big engine pods are part of the look Jame wants to maintain.

Yeah, totally different tech. In my 200ton estimate layout the pods came to a nice total of about 35tons, just right to fill with C drives

Which in MTU would give a 300ton hull J2, M2, and P2.

The main issue I'd have with doing it that way is how the heck to get the engineer to the pods

EVA? That sounds like fun

 

[GypsyComet]

Unless you assume the wings can fold up, similar to what a TI/TJ does (see pics in MT Rebellion Sourcebook), it's a poor design for cargo handling on the ground, which is the only reason to have that sleek an airframe...

On the Book 2 stats above, my only comment after the others is that 2G is quite the luxury for a dedicated merchanter. The 4 tons and MCr 8 may be better employed elsewhere.

 

[GypsyComet]

OK, realizing that my statement above assumes a drive progression for a 300 tons hull, I've looked at this on a "no such luck" basis

Book 2 Design. 300 tons. J-2, 2G. 80 tons fuel. Model/2. 15 staterooms, 20 low. 3 hardpoints (1 double turret with pulse laser and sandcaster). Air/raft. 84 tons cargo. Streamlined. 4 crew. 123.35 MCr, 13 months.

Econonics:

Fuel: 70,000 Cr refined per month, assuming two jumps
Life Support: 84,000 Cr per month (42,000 Cr per trip)
Annuals: 123,350 Cr per year, or 10,000 per month
Crew: call it 20,000 Cr per month
Payments: 513,958 Cr per month

Or nearly 700,000 Cr per month

Income:
cargo space: 84,000 Cr per jump on Freight, 168,000 Cr per month
Passengers: 11 Middles and 20 lows: 108,000 Cr per trip, 216,000 Cr per month.

So basically the owner needs to make a solid 3,000 Cr per cargo ton every trip in a passenger-rich environment, and closer to 5,000 Cr per cargo ton in a passenger-poor area.

I'll leave the viability of the ship as an exercise in your prefered Trading rules...

 

[far-trader]

Hmm, articulated wings? Of course! That's brilliant GC! It fits nicely with my sketch and solves the access problem, in a less than perfect and nicely clunky way. Plus it addresses that grounding issue as you note. And it just is plain cool. Hmmm, so wings up for jump, maintenance, and landing; extended maneuvering. Sound about right?

My workthrough of Jame's notes (need the breakdown to do the plans) came up 8tons and several MCr over and not enough crew (unless maybe some are double tasked).

My rework with the MTU use of C drives for level 2 performance managed to come out workable on both counts, and it allows a crew of 4, if you don't book High Passage and treat the chin turret (the one with the installed weapons) as fixed fired by the pilot.

I'm getting fired up about it now

Thanks to that wing idea GC.

And my version explains the performance and cost as it being an ex-military craft converted to merchant use. Which, to answer the earlier question by Black Globe Generator, is about the only way this one could make it's payments. It's a decommissioned IN ship sold off and remortgaged at a much lower price than new.

Yep, I may have to do up a version to offer in contest

 

[GypsyComet]

Originally posted by far-trader:
Hmm, articulated wings? Of course! That's brilliant GC! It fits nicely with my sketch and solves the access problem, in a less than perfect and nicely clunky way. Plus it addresses that grounding issue as you note. And it just is plain cool. Hmmm, so wings up for jump, maintenance, and landing; extended maneuvering. Sound about right?

Depending on the tech involved in the articulation, the wings would be extended until close to landing, then fold upwards. I imagine jump could be done either way, though the jump field would be a bit simpler when they are folded.

A bit of careful design, and you can put access crawlways in the tips of the wings that are only shirtsleeve-accessible when the wings are folded, as they fold up against the other half of the access point on the hull. This allows you to avoid the issue of an accessway that can survive being folded...

I can also see older hulls that have seen a few too many hinge malfs getting their wings rebuilt into a fixed configuration with a bend in the middle, making them look somewhat like the wings on the WWII-era Corsair (of "Black Sheep Squadron" fame).