Migrating to GURPS Spaceships

There has been no update on GURPS Traveller ship combat rules. Its really time to dump them despite all the effort I've gone through making a spreadsheet, doctrine, and consolidating all the rules from all the various sources in my notes.

Spaceships has support, and plug in rules for GURPS mass combat for fleet action.

I was talking to +James Austin since he has the books and I was able to learn what else it supports. It was a great coincidence that he was also a honorverse fan and we can talked munchkin.

Man they thought of everything, the best edited and proofread system and rules, and it's more science crunchy with game blogs that talk gurps talk science.

If you have beef with the rules, then call on the Men in black or Steve Jackson Games volunteers who will help you out - I'm an MiB too.

Its going to cost me about $90usd to get all of space ships and the pyramid articles but I have to wait till Xmas when forex is in my favor. Wish they had a bundle discount lolz.

Pondering About Ships In My Sci-fi Universe

New Things to Imagine. In light of some technical understanding this is how I imagine ship interiors to be like. 

Ship Interior Surface
I think the inside of a ship with nanotechnology around would have smart paint that wrote down all warnings and instructions as a fail safe measure. Smart Paint is basically paint that can change color, when applied some stimuli. Airborn Nano-Tech or the Ship's Maintenance bots are equipped to modify the smart pain and transcribe graphics and data, even digital codes. 

I got the Idea from work, where we keep notes in all our IT equipment in case the person we need to help fix is not there and we know where everything will be. Also living in a place Poor in Signs is a B*tch, you get lost and its always handy to have all important information handy in case you can't depend on the Engineers or the Ship AI to help you. 

Ship Atmosphere
Ships and any enclosed environs would have a mircobot immune system. Nanotechnology generators continuously generating microbots as these degrade quickly is going to be part of the air and Eco system, looking for viruses and hostile nano tech. Your "life support" or regular consumption of electronic supplies can be consumed. 

Ship Insides

A ship would be crawling with micro tech ecosystem that maintain it and report to the computer the current condition of all the parts. Any rats or alien stow always would be immediately detected, except those in the cargo hold in secure freight. They probably do all the maintenance of all the hard to reach and softer electronics. Engineers are versed with all his "Pokemon" engineering toys and tools, and because of Rapid Prototyping being the Norm, come up continually with very specialized and alien designs for micro-bot maintenance units. GM's and writers can play around with the aesthetics, making cute and cuddly (PG) microbots to those that look gross and insect-like. 

All the other ships that dock in the mother ship depend on the mother ship for its anti bodies, which in extended duration missions die out. 

Like Car Maintenance or Fuel, the cost of such materials and supplies can be worth the value of the "soft" electronic parts of ship divide by the year of natural obsoletion (typically 3-4). So if your electronics is about 5% the ship cost then divided it by 4 you have 1.25% per year or 0.11% per month in consumed electronic fodder for the Microbot Replicator. 

Heavy Repair Bots - Ship Symbiots

This basically makes the ship alive with its own "biology", although dependent on processed materials for its consumption. I am imagining military 100 yard long vessels with 1 to 4 ton mechs/robots that make them near completely self sufficient and act as mobile turrets moving around the surface of the ship to provide point defense or ECM where needed and repairs. These Robots can detach with Maneuvering Systems and work with "tug boats" to repair the ship or various other tasks.  

I got the idea remembering the Destroids in Robotech acting like Weapon Turrets on the Macross. Its basically a Mobile Turret that can change its facing. Then why not push the idea further and have them move around to repair the ship and many exterior tasks - like a Symbiot taking care of its Host. 

There is serious exterior hull damage, the Symbiot moves in to control the damage! EW systems shoot a penetrating round to deliver Nano-Virus Tech into the system where it will allow it to "Hack" the ship, the Symbiot will attack the delivery mechanism. It will even sacrifice itself for the ship either by giving up its carapace and form to close off hull breach or concentrate all its EW systems and intercepting an attack.  

The Ship AI and Relationships

Going further as a living thing, a ship can house an ai that can emulate a human with all that baggage that make it safe but annoyingly restrained, you don't want a ship without compassion or it might kill you or harm someone carelessly. Relationships with ships, the AI, is something that can be a great source of drama and role playing. 

Various Platonic Relationships, but then there is room for romantic relationships when the Ship AI possess the Steward Bioroid. Those who like drama and relationships in the story can wonder what will happen if the crew has a complicated relationship with the AI or explore various relationships. 

What if the Ship sees the captain as a Parent, or the Captain is the "child" or "dependent" in the relationship. What if they are Partners or Peers. What if the Pilot is F*ing the ship, who is the captain's daughter/son, while the Captain is F* the steward who is a AI peer of the ship and closest to sibling, and the engineer is the "other parent" with unrequited love for the Captain kinda of mess.

Ugg I'd write that and direct a machinema show with this kind of screwed up relationships. That would be a fun show to watch, and to play with the ideas of AI, Sapiens, and Emotions. 

Ship Life Support. 
The Cost of Life Support in a Ship reflects the cost and efficiency of life support technology in a tech level. So if this is very high, one needs to calibrate the relative cost of Life Support in various other Enclosed Domains. Its also important to note that Life Support Determines the available Economic Force that can be devoted to other things. 

So if Life Support is Expensive, some planets are like living in Medieval Times where 95% is devoted to Life Support (Food production). You cannot expand or grow if the cost of Supporting what already exists eats up most of your resources. 

I'm with GURPS where Life Support is fairly cheap, the way we spend on Air conditioning, Heat, and Wear and Tear materials of our living domains. I think if it was Too expensive, even with Economies of scale, then living in dangerous vacuum space would not be feasible. 

IMSU since people wear their Vacc Suits or Life Suits as an extension of their being or person, then life support is minimized further and they are protected from Nano-Tech intrusions as well. If people want to see "flesh" they can project avatars in Virtual Space. 

  

Adventures in SciFi Publishing presents DemiCon 24 panel "How to Build a Navy" with David Weber and BuNine — Adventures in SciFi Publishing

In case anyone missed this... this is a great outline method to write a Sci-fi setting's source book.

In the illustration, the parts in red is one of the focus in storytelling. It isn't exactly a lot of work, you can summarize elements into paragraphs and a list of key concept in analysis, economics, organization, and management since these are mostly processes and logistics.

it can be a lot of reading, you have to have a basis. Logistics professions, at least ones where the practitioner studies on precedent and the academic elements (to understand why things are the way they are and have the skill to break these elements down in order to fix process problems).

BUT some logistics processes are intuitive, you don't need management certification to do your job if you can do it, although you need time and reflection to put it into words and break down the ideas to be modular and flexible for adaptive problem solving and abstraction.

Adventures in SciFi Publishing presents DemiCon 24 panel "How to Build a Navy" with David Weber and BuNine — Adventures in SciFi Publishing:

'via Blog this'

re-learning 3d Graphics again :P

Relearning 3d again. Its much easier now than when I first learned it in 2007 but in blender instead of 3ds Max. Before I was in denial that I can learn game design without learning programming and I have finally accepted all the work that is going to be needed. 

What's its relationship to gaming? I've been frustrated building ships with game rules and I want to just use the existing infra others have built and just make a freaking way to bring my imaginations to reality. 

I'm frustrated making hardware for GURPS cause after playing around with the ballistics spreadsheet I've hit a wall and I can't get my ship combat off the ground implementing the some well known "hacks" that screw up standard ship combat doctrine. 

Relearning this skill has brought back some memories of long nights, several burn-outs, and overly-naive-and-ambitious projects. My training as an analyst and a manager should put some strategy in learning much faster and plugging as many hours in this.

Oh well, hopefully by sept I can get back to full skillset (being able to do basic modeling projects at realistic or clean renders)... whoah i'm getting flashbacks lolz.

IMTU: Mind-Emulator + Drone Fighters

I just stumbled on something I am wondering if anyone else figured out: with Mind Emulation, Pilots can basically be Synced to Fighters or what will be Drone Fighters. Trying to get over my organic bias, if the stats are the same being organic vs digital should not matter and moving forward contemplating the consequences.

How this works. 

1) A pilot has a Mind-Emulation made for his Drone Fighter. 

2) The Pilot Syncs up to make sure they are all aligned. 

3) The Pilot is kept in a sensory shielded state, only able to receive his own experiences from his Drone Fighter. To keep Mind-Emulation Alignment from having to many variables and telemetry lag. 

4) What happens next is that Pilots are Fighting using a Computer that is Much more powerful than their own mind, running their mind as a program with higher spec-hardware (see FAST UT28, grants Enhanced time Sense). In GURPS a Fast Main-frame can run a Complexity 10 (mind emulation only needs complexity 9) but is worth $4M  Shielded and $30k for the emulation Software. 

5) The Fighter Pilot basically transfer's his consciousness to the $4M mainframe and the pilots gains Enhanced Time Sense when the mind emulation is run at a higher complexity. The Ship feedbacks his experiences through Telemetry/Mindlink but only as his mind emulation makes decisions (a real existential leap; You have to be over Mind-body Dualism). Ship gets destroyed, pilot is still alive, ship can react far faster than a HUMAN fighter with ETS. Basically you can say that ETS allows the Pilot to ignore all the Multi-Tasking penalties as he makes Sensor, Comm, EW, defense rolls, fighting rolls etc... 

6) Every-time there is Mindlink the pilot gets his Sensie/Sensory update what just happened, regarded to his emulated decision making. The Organic becomes the "back-up" copy lolz. It happens so fast and the pilot is in ETS mode that everything is like a dream, so fast and so much detail bombarding his human mind. 

things to consider

3 laws of Robotics. Is it except from the 3 laws?
Fighter Doctrine. This basically changes the entire doctrine and use of Fighters or Drones. Instead of Lifesupport, all the space and mass is dedicated to shielding and mindlink.
Drones as a screening element, reminding me of the Chmmr Avatar's point defense satelites

by dragon

Accountability of Mind Emulations. is it the Pilot, the Organization of the Pilot, or the software designer? 

Emulations that Survive its Pilots!? What will happen if the Ship gets destroyed but the Fighter Drone Survives??? Characters only existing as a Mind Emulation. ooooo so much stories to tell Lolz. 

Other Applications

Apply this to Combat Robots, Armor, Etc... A combat Robot that is big enough (see my combot robot examples) and can burn $10M can basically run an emulation to give-himself ETS in the same body if there is space for a Micro-frame. Yikes, this means a Robot can purchase Altered Time Rate capped by the GM and having to pay for the Software enhancement +5CF for every ATR level up to 9! or +45CF or $1.48M software. 

Wow GURPS combat in 0.1 Second turns lolz.  

Weaknesses, as a digital mind, it can be Hacked.

4dton Drone
Tech Level: 10
Hull: 4dton Airframe Needle/Wedge Stealth Hull, dDR 10 armor
Systems: 1 Maneuver Drive, Model-0 Sensors (Scan14), 1.5 Fusion Power,  Hardened Mainframe,  Weapon Bay able to hold 3 Turret Weapons in an Internal Bay .
Statistics: EMass 30 tons, LMass 35 tons, Cost M$13, SM +3, ASig -3, Hull dHP 16, Life Support 0, sAccel 6.6G, No Jump, Top Air Speed 2,739 mph.
Crew: None (Drone, uses a Mind Emulation of the Pilot).

4dton Drone
Tech Level: 10
Hull: 4dton Airframe Needle/Wedge Stealth Hull, dDR 10 armor
Systems: 1 Maneuver Drive, Model-0 Sensors (Scan14), 1.5 Fusion Power,  Hardened Mainframe,  Weapon Bay able to hold 3 Turret Weapons in an Internal Bay (Strike Ultra Violet Pulse Laser with 2E-Cell,  x2 200mm Missile Rack (with 24 HE 200mm missiles).
Statistics: EMass 30 tons, LMass 35 tons, Cost M$15, SM +3, ASig -3, Hull dHP 16, Life Support 0, sAccel 6.6G, No Jump, Top Air Speed 2,739 mph.
Crew: None (Drone, uses a Mind Emulation of the Pilot).

As such this only occupies so much less space that a 200dton hangar that would normally house 10 x 10dton fighters can house 25 drones. With launch tubes and the rules for use in ship combat in ISW224.

Converting a Fighter to a Drone.
add Fast Hardened Main-Frame for $4M use the rest of the space for other upgrades or extra weapons.

Dualism
you can find all the counter arguments of those who defend dualism in the link. Ghost in the Shell, is a sci-fi that quantifies a "ghost" and believes in Dualism. So its really up to your sci-fi or science tastes since this is just a game.

I won't explain my own view because, like everyone else's, its a long thought about answer and its pointless to discuss because you can say every thing I experience is an "anecdote" lolz. I assume everyone came to their own conclusion and when new facts enter the scene, hopefully they change their views to accommodate the facts. 

IMTU Warheads and Effectiveness

This is a post to patch up some rules regarding warheads and special effects.

see Common Fighters of the Third Imperium by Mark Gellis has the rules for the missiles.

Warhead's size and Power. The bigger the size the more power is assumed. Size really matters because a 10mmx40mm Case Less stingray round, SM-9 (B550), will not override a SM+9 Ship. What we can do is make an assumption that the attack modifier is -10 vs HT modified by the size difference.

UT weapons and size modifiers. This is purely the weapon. if used as a war-head you have to account for the body. Use B550, Use UT's ammo weight to get mass of each ammo.
Pistol ammo 10mm x 25mm (SM-11)
Pistol Ammo 15mm x 37.5mm (SM-10)
10mm x40mm (SM-10)
15mm x60mm (SM-9)
18.5mm x70mm (SM-9)
25mm x100mm (SM-6)
40mm x160mm (SM-6)
64mm x256mm (SM-5); See UT145 for missile body cost, x10 for high endurance guided missile body which ha 1.25 minutes of powered flight.
100mm x400mm (SM-4) 20lbs warhead; $300 from size modifier and UT145 missile body. x10 per guided high endurance missile body 3.75 minutes of powered flight. (note: reduce cost, weight by 8 factor from ISW226 stats)
200mm x800mm (SM-3) 160lbs warhead (missile body is 1.13 yards for a total of 2yrd of SM+0)
(see 500mm missile)

Example.
25mm stingray (SM-6) vs SM+0 Power armor. HT-10 reduced by the size difference: SM-6 vs SM+0 is 6; reduce the HT-10 by 6 to HT-4)
64mm stingray (SM-5) vs SM+4 vehicle. HT-10 reduced by the size difference: SM-5 vs SM+4 is 9; reduce the HT-10 by 9 = HT-1 roll)
200mm stingray  (SM-3) vs SM+5 Tank. HT-10 reduced by the size difference: SM-3 vs SM+5 is 8; reduce the HT-10 by 8 to HT-2.

Example Ship to Ship combat
200mm stingray (SM-3) vs SM+9 Ship. HT-10 reduced by the size difference: SM-3 vs SM+9 is 12; reduce the HT-10 by 12 to HT+2).

Note on EMP vs Stingray missiles UT156. Stingray missile use the Lethal electrical damage (B432) causing stun for minutes unlike EMP which cause stun for seconds but has an area effect AND has another -8 penalty (so HT-18 plus size difference).

IMTU - Simplifying Starting Ships; Profitability Updated

Simple Rule - you start out with all the necessary equipment and consumables as long as they don't add up to more than 10% of the ship. The only catch is that you have to take the effort to list it down, the reward is you get it as part of the "Ship Package deal" and the return is that you take the stuff and list them down Ideally in an Asset Spreadsheet (another sheet in the Crews Spreadsheet).

This does not include

• Weapons that was not indicated in the basic ship package/stat block. 
• Turrets (heavy or light)
• Fighters (if the ship is converted into a carrier)
• Modifications (adding power plants, drives, quarters, additional etc.)

This may include (note ideally this does not exceed 10% of the ship's total value):

• Non-Combat Small-Craft (also the essential supplies also here)
• Vehicles
• Heavy Equipment (Heavy Exo-skeletons; Robots)
• Basic Equipment (Powered Suits; Tech Bots; repiar tools)
• Software and AI 
• Missiles (HE warheads only; $25k each), Sand, 
• 6 months of supplies equal to the ship's Life Support. 

All the equipment if I did a serious accounting of them, added up to 17M of my 288M Frontier Merchant.

Notes about Expenses?

• Does an HT8 ship (with 20% the cost) have lower expenses than an HT10 of the ship or an HT12 of the ship? To simplify Yes, but I think if you continuously use sub par replaceable parts at 1/5 the cost of what is a reasonably small overhead expense then  you should incur some penalties from -1 to -3 mechanic or eletronics repair checks or checks in the basic use of these tools like piloting or operations checks. 
• Upgrade Expenses (not just from TL10 to 11, but HT upgrades; I'm on the inclination to use the rugged rules for tougher parts are just double the cost + or - the merchant's price roll and ability to negotiate or find the best price), its better to organize the upgrades in sections: Power, Drives, Lifesupport, Hull, Sensors, Computers, Quarters, etc.. 

Updated Expenses and Profitability Spreadsheet in light of the Standard Operating Procedure I developed in my other Post.

Finally Profitability... but the margins are pretty slim. this assumes purely 80% efficiency (getting only 80% of hold and passengers filled; room for speculative trade to increase profits).

GURPS traveller ship building spreadsheet

One of multiple parts I am trying to keep this short.
GURPS Ship building System 4th Edition Traveller, found in GURPS 4th Edition Traveller: Interstellar Wars which is an update of GURPS Traveller 3rd Edition. (that was confusing)
Notes: Green is typically drop down, Blue is Input (type in the value you want), and yellow or white are just stats for calculation and tracking.
also check out Satomato's IW ship designing spreadsheet  every tool helps bring down the barriers.

IMTU Ship Creation Spreadsheet: EM armor, Ablative Foam, Armor Paste

I added Electro Magnetic Armor (variable Hardening vs Shaped Charge), Ablative Foam (Hardened 1 vs Lasers) and Reactive Armor Paste (Hardened 3 vs Shaped Charge or HEMP). These are UT options but I had to change it so that it is Economically a Feasible Option. Otherwise whats the point.

Here is the Dropbox link to the Lending Copy. Since anyone can edit it, I have to separate the copies so that my original will remain intact. I was supposed to come up with a video how to use the spreadsheet but I had to take care of my son, I got his sore throat.

The Reactive Armor is not homogenous but strategically placed in a certain pattern and intervals. It can be voluntarily activated because it is a paste and foam after all. There are some details I'll leave you to wing.  

I find the option great after learning it costs 1.2 milion to repair 1hp of damage. Basically its a way for ships to take damage but not break the bank.

One of these days I really should write up doctrine in a small statement sized booklet at about 8 pages and all the material you need to run a basic combat scenario for beginners in a Roll20 campaign. Basically run space combat the way Vaclav ran Gladiatorial fights.

Implementing the rules that make full use of the crew and allows me to make a more hard-sci fi doctrine and giving it a feel of a party based combat. particularly using EW and beam head missiles (beams like particle accelerators, not just lasers) like in Honorverse. And like in Honorverse, the GURPS, L5R or GoT in their space combat, there is always attrition... very very severe attrition.

Rewatching Ghost in the Shell and after learning bout Pax

IMTU Ship repairs in gurps traveller

Ship Repairs seems to be a Non-Topic because I'm not getting a nibble in the threads and my search-fu has been weak. So lets do something cheap and easy - make shit up.

UPDATE 6/25/2013
B483 and ISW223 has the rules for damage and effects.

Repairs Cost = dDmg*(Ship Value/dHPx6)*Ship Condition

Ships Condition
Ship condition is the HT rolls of the ship, as it takes damage in B483 and ISW223
Functional - repairs are non-critical systems so the cost is about 20% or 1/5 the amount.
Disabled - Many critical systems were damaged. Cost of repair is 100% or 1/2 the amount.
Destroyed - All the ship's critical systems is down, cost of repairs is at 200% repair cost.

Example.
Lightning Class Frontier Merchant takes 20 dmg, the ship is ($250M/45*6) = $0.93M which is equal to $18.5M in repairs. Since the ship is in functional condition, it is assumed no critical systems were hit so it is mostly hull and armor damage. So the damage is now at $3.7M.

Example 2. A HT10 Terran Fighter ISW202 takes 20 dmg, damage is 0.183M. If the Fighter failed its HT roll after taking 20dmg and was disabled, but got back for repairs, the cost of repairs would be $3.66M 

Example 2. A HT10 Hero Class Merchant ISW206 takes 60 dmg, damage is $0.377M per dHP. If the Hero failed its HT roll after taking 60dmg and was "destroyed", if a retrieval operation went underway it would cost (22.6*200%) $45.3M to repair her. 

Note, It is possible for a ship to take dHPx3 dmg but have made all its HT rolls. the ship is disabled and the cost of repairs does not go up yet. 

The Cheapest Solution
Rent a Berth, Source Parts (Salvage it when you can), and make the engineer earn his keep. Simple isn't it? In B474 materials are ~20% the cost of a product, parts can be a sourcing/trade roll like in Finding Goods for Sale ISW180. Of course its less time consuming if your ship has a:

• Techbots, a lot of Tech Bots. 
• Heavy Exo-Skeleton 6-arms and designed to use harness to move around in 3d space on Gravity or M-drives to move around in 0G. Consider it a Fine Quality Heavy Exo Skeleton.
• Light Exo-Skeleton with 4 arms and designed to use
• Microboats with Mecha Arms that plug in to Hardpoints (x9 arms). 
• Cargo Super Strong Netting - help haul stuff through space and has other miscelaneous uses. 
• 1% of the ships value in equipment and supplies is minimal, ideal is up to 3%. 
• The Cheapest Solution is also one of the Funnest Solution because its kinda DIY and a lot of Engineering and Merchant Rolls. In its own its actually an adventure. 

Bottom line: If you DIY repairs your cost is your own salaries, and materials sourced. You can try to use Machinery, Mechanical parts In-1/Ni+1 in ISW180. definitely in a industrial world you can find the parts you need easier than a non-industrial world.

Note: Finding Goods for Sale in the Real world is called Sourcing. I'm sure you can find out more if you use the key word sourcing.

Salvage rules.
Salvaging Rules is simply an extension of the repair rules. Usually when the ship takes dHPx3 worth of damage and it is destroyed, it now costs as much to buy one brand new (assumiing ship and market price is stable).
Basically the remaining Material Floating around is equal to the remaining dHP per cost to repair x 10% or 0.1 because its considered scrapped.

Retieval vs Scrapping - this is basically an Accounting distinction. To differentiate Salvage is for scrap while Retrieval is for repairs. They are two different ways of reporting a loss, it really depends on what favors which business how to report this.

Example 3A 10k Dton Freighter ISW217 with 120dHP has $3.4M per dHP. It was destroyed after taking 360dmg, repairing it would be more expensive than building a new one. The remaining derilict is now considered scrapped and is worth ($1,249M x 0.1) $124M as scrap. 

There are some salvage rules in JTAS Cortez-Class Salvage Ship by Brandon Cope (you need to have a JTAS account to access). But basically Salvagers, the "State" (because they provide the berthing via Starport and adjudication), and of course the other parties involved each have their own commission.

Note it is a great use of Scrounging but what is more appropriate is Two stage roll Sensors + Per & Engineering/Mechanic + Per.

Note also that if you got the Microboats with arms or Heavy Exo-Sk maybe you can do some salvaging.

Risk Analysis.
In light of how much repairs cost, there is a lot of risks in going into space - so charge it to your clients. Risk vs Reward is a factor in Market prices and again I emphasize "Market Rate" is arbitrary, when the GM all of a sudden throws a Pirate Infestation or WAR in the region Prices do not stay the same/static.

When there is criminal space activity, there are market forces that instigate Imperium to act on it. For one thing, what good is a technological and trade monopoly when you cannot squeeze profits out of an entire system. The funny thing about the Space Navy is that Nobles with Corporations Own the ships, and their revenues are what gets hit with Piracy.

Again my Ship Spreadsheet

IMTU - No-Stealth - Open to Critique

Open for Critique

Since I choose to remove detection stealth IMTU I wondered its effects. There is still "stealth" but it works like deception. It basically gives a Penalty to Ship Identification. Basically IMTU typical accuracy of inferring a ship 95% and its capabilities are around 75% (an arbitrary value). "Stealth" serves to confuse the mass and heat detection. It doesn't make anything disappear, it just makes measurements less accurate, if certain parameters are taken into account the measurement would the default accuracy. 

Ways to Ambush or Trap

• from inside the ship: hi-jacking
• Forging Ship IFF and if the ship can matches XX% (OTU standard) of the profile.
• In a high density field: a high yielding mineral belt or ring that gives systems just too much to track. The idea is dense enough to give mass  detection a harder time finding hollowed out asteroids. Using concealed passive sensors and probably intercepted Intelligence of movement.
• In a Gass Giant with a low enough G for the ship to accelerate towards its target. Same as High density field. Ex. Neptune and special equipment to allow personnel to lie in wait.

Affect on doctrine

• Q-ships will be very very close to normal Merchant ships*.
• Merchant ships will try to be very much like known Q-ships
• Q-ships may be the majority of fighting ships
• Modular Ships that can economically modified for Q-ship or Merchant ship.
• War Ships are unmistakable, some technologies and doctrines will allow for "power projection".
• Less Expansionist or non-Imperial Navies will have an fleets of Q-ships; constantly hiding their true numbers. Q-ships
• Drones are employed heavily to saturate systems and can quickly make a Merchant ship dangerous as a Drone Carrier. Drones in the form of Ships to Missile Pods, to Laser Firing Missiles.
• Stations are more secure because of the lead distance they have on arriving ships. Fleets jumping in system may find the Stations and Fortresses moving for cover. Stations would have anchored multiple celestial covers - grabbing several large asteroids and mounting unmanned m-drives and sensor and weapon platforms.
• Systems with Rich Asteroids are the most naturally defensible systems. Thus more valuable for Independent "States".**

*A lot of Beowulf/Hero, Far-Trader, Akkigish/Fat-Tader Q-ships, 2k-10K-ton Freighers and Liners Q-ships. Might as well shorten them as Q-hero, Q-Fat Trader?
** High Trade, but Highly Independent or Autonomous states with few resources. They can vary from Raiding and Trading states like Dark-ages Danes or something like Singapore or Taiwan.

thread here.

IMTU: Updating the Ops Cost per Ship.

Just an update of ship expenses, all commercial shipping found in ISW.
Note that these are the costs per Dton, there is no margin and no Total-Cost-of-Ownership for Manpower. These all assume HT8 ships or what is IMTU default costs for regular ships.

Notice the Sharushid Ships have 50 years to pay and at the $1400 per dton make enormous profits. Their economies of scale are what private merchanters should not go head to head with. I've given a formula how to estimate the amount of shipping traffic a route has.

I've included HT8 microboats for every 250dton of cargo.

This should be enough of a play book for the adventures in ISW. We can just assume terra has the same ships as the Imperium for freighters, the difference is in the details... particularly operational costs. If Terrans use Androids for V.AI Crewman slots, thats 1/5 salary according to UT.

IMTU Doctrines of the Imperium

I was doing a detailed review of Gurps Traveller (Ground Forces and Star Mercs) and I was disappointed with the inconsistencies. I was supposed to write a review, but I got busy and filed it as a Draft in my blog. I don't think it would be productive to "rant" when I can do something about it instead.

What I choose to do about it is write about the Military Doctrine of My Traveller Universe instead. I began with a description of the economic state of the Imperium, and I'm slowly working my way towards details and a more unified outline. I realized the Economic overview helps build a more consistent explanation as we move towards details.

I've recently did a pretty in-depth read on US Army and Marine training and proficiencies. The Philippines is pretty much patterned after that, except that its poor and its soldiers are not taken well taken care off. My country's military provides a good example of what balkanized and unstable military services are like in the many poor and struggling worlds of the Imperium.

I will also tackle Naval Doctrine, building on Mark Gelis' article The Imperial Navy in a 4th Edition GURPS Campaign Part I. Basically detail it in the way David Webber did for Honorverse, but given Traveller equipment and ships.

I like doing load-outs so thats one of the things I've begun to do with the details. Currently my internet is buggy and I can't finish my writing.

As for the Doctrine Overview, I'm considering doing Army first.

Traveller 20,000Dton Carrier

This 20k Carrier includes its fighter, based on the Terran fighter. This is designed mostly from ISW RAW. The only differences is in the ranks of the Fighter Pilots. The Terran light fighter has been modified to have an additional crewman and missile racks at the expense of sensor range. Note that this ship is 1/3 the cost of a battle ship (including the cost of the fighters), can launch and control as much as 264 missiles and 160 more from the fighters (able to overcome 4 repulsor arrays, as well as handing off these missiles to forward deployed screening fighters), and can have as much as 132 point defense lasers (as far as range 6!) and 160 more from screening fighters.

20,000 Dton Carrier (Mythic Class)

Tech Level: 10

Hull: 20,000-dton Streamlined Needle/Wedge Hull, dDR 240 armor

Systems: 600 Maneuver Drive, 600 Jump Drive, 4000 Fuel Tanks, 50 Fuel Processor (160 dtons/hour, 25 hours to fill), Command Bridge and Standard Bridge, Model-9 Sensors (Scan-24), 66 Heavy Turrets (2 Pulse Lasers, and 4 Missile Racks each), 8 Launch Tubes (can launch up to 20Dton, can launch all 80 fighters in 1 turn), Hangar (80 light fighters and 20 20Dton Crafts), 671 Fusion Power, 235 Staterooms, 30 Low Berths, 2 Workshop, 6 Sickbay, 600 Cargo.

Statistics: EMass 82,340 tons, LMass 111,730 tons, Cost M$11,840, SM +12, ASig +6, Hull dHP 200, Life Support 530, sAccel 1.0G, Jump-2 (2 parsec range), Top Air Speed 740 mph.

Crew: Command Section (8 officers, 4 petty, 3 crewmen), Engineering Section (9 officers, 19 petty, 65 crewmen), Flight Section (1 officer, 3 petty, 6 crewmen), Flight Crew (200 petty officers), Passenger Service Section (1 crewman), Cargo Service (1 officer, 1 crewman), Ship Troops (4 officers, 8 petty, 47 marines), Medical Section (2 officers, 4 petty officers, 6 crewmen), General Services (1 officer, 2 petty, 8 crewmen). Total 29 officers, 247 petty officer, 158 crewmen.

Passengers: 4 First-Class.

Recommended Naming Convention: Fantasy Monsters and Beings - Warlock, Witcher, Gorgon, Hydra, etc.

10Dton Light Missile and Beam Fighter

Tech Level: 10

Hull: 10-dton Airframe Needle/Wedge hull, dDR 16 armor, Stealth

Systems: 2.5 Maneuver Drive, Large Cockpit, Model-0 Sensors (Scan-14), 2 Missile Racks, 2 Pulse Lasers, 4 Fusion Power.

Statistics: EMass 85 tons, LMass 90 tons, Cost M$24, SM +6, ASig +0, Hull dHP 20, No Life Support, sAccel 5.5.0G, Top Air Speed 4,400 mph.

Crew: Command Section (2 Officer). Total 2 petty officers*.

* on the ship their quarters space allocations counts as a petty officer instead of an officer.

5,000 Dton Cruiser

Tech Level: 10

Hull: 5,000-dton Streamlined Needle/Wedge Hull, dDR 240 armor

Systems: 900 Maneuver Drive, 150 Jump Drive, 1000 Fuel Tanks, 25 Fuel Processor (80 dtons/hour, 12 hours to fill), Command Bridge, Model-9 Sensors (Scan-24), 26 Heavy Turrets (2 Pulse Lasers, and 4 Missile Racks each), Hangar (5 30-Dton Vessels), 6 Launch Tubes, 980 Fusion Power, 115 Staterooms, 10 Low Berths, 2 Workshop, 2 Sickbay, 175 Cargo.

Statistics: EMass 38,900 tons, LMass 45,600 tons, Cost M$6,025, SM +11, ASig +5, Hull dHP 160, Life Support 250, sAccel 4.0G, Jump-2 (4 parsec range), Top Air Speed 740 mph.

Crew: Command Section (5 officers, 3 petty, 2 crewmen), Engineering Section (10 officers, 21 petty, 73 crewmen), Flight Section (1 officer), Flight Crew (1 crewman), Passenger Service Section (1 crewman), Cargo Service (1 crewman), Ship Troops (1 officers, 2 petty, 12 marines), Medical Section (1 officers, 2 petty officers, 3 crewmen), General Services (1 officer, 1 petty, 3 crewmen). Total 19 officers, 72 petty officer, 104 crewmen.

Passengers: 3 First-Class, 8 standard.

Gurps Traveler: Expanding GURPS BASIC SET

I think there should be more fan made BASIC SET material online. I've heard complaints from my fellow GM that the other Books just pile on more rules and there was a thread or two that just talks about what campaigns can one make with just the basic set.

I will try to convert my data to Basic Set 4E usalble systems and save other GMs some grief.I will also fix up a bit of the Vehicle Combat Rules in Campaigns to be more easy and "ready-to-play"

Cheap Small Armed Frontier Merchant

Description: This small Merchanter is meant to survive out in the frontier and for the entrepreneur working on a budget. This ship has a very strong defensive ability, these are not offensive missiles but ECM missiles which launch accompanying the ship and scrambling the source of its active signal and emissions. (i will explain more of this in detail... the wife is asking me to sleep).

dHP 78 (dDR10); Hnd -2 (SR 5); HT11; Move: 1.7G/1.1G/0.6; LWT: 875 (Load: 400/800/2000, 1100m^3); SM +8 (65m); Occ 12+6ASV; Range 200yrs/2-parsecs Cost $57.5M; Locations 3Rr2+1t

Combat Capabilities: 8x12 ECM missiles, 4 Pulse Lasers.

Notes:

Cargo: Convertible to Supports 550m^3 Hangar (3 x SM+4 75m^3 crafts) and 550m^3 Fuel Tank (+2-parsec range and wilderness refueling capable).

Crew: Commanding Officer, Executive/Tactical officer, Sensor Officer, Navigations/Gunner Officer, Communications/ EW-ECM Officer, Chief Engineer, 2 Engeineering/Maintenance/Cargo Service Crew, Chief Steward, Ship Master, and 2 Medical (Nurse)/ General Service Crew. Lodging enough for 6 Passengers or Small Craft Crew .

Cheap Small Fighter

Description: This small fighter is based on a civilian recreational racer usually converted by frontier governments and merchanters into armed escort.

dHP 38 (dDR10); Hnd +0 (SR 5); HT 9; Move: 4G/4.5G (with no pulse lasers); LWT: 68.5 (Load: 13.5); SM +4 (8.5m); Occ 2ASV; Range 40 Days Cost $9M; Locations 0+3t

Combat Capabilities: 3x12 ECM missiles, 3 x Missiles, 1 EW Missiles, 2 Pulse Lasers.

Notes:

Crew: Navigator/Sensor Officer and Gunner/EW-ECM

Traveller ISW: Automated Turrets and Exo Skeletons

The turret programing will grant its bonus to the Gunnery Section. Basically it is the task of this section to monitor, manage and coordinate all the turret firepower. Its better to keep skill to the "Characters" and let the quality of the equipment affect the scale and effectiveness of their abilities.

TL 9 Turret Programing $3,300 +30lbs
$2,000 TL10 Hardened Personal Computer Complexity 5
Good, +1 Artillery: Missiles, Complexity 5, $1000
Good, +1 Gunner: Beam, Complexity 4, $300

TL 10 Turret Programing $3,300 +30lbs
$2,000 TL10 Hardened Personal Computer Complexity 7
Fine, +2 Artillery: Missiles, Complexity 7, $1000
Fine, +2 Gunner: Beam, Complexity 6, $300

TL9 Industrial Spider Exo Skeleton: DR20/0, $150,000, 300lbs, SM+2, 2E/24hr
Basically this is a heavy exo-skeleton with 6 manipulators and tools built in. The Manipulators aid in orientation and handling large and bulky parts necessary in repair. Serious Ship Repairs, Refitting, Modification and Maintenance (anything tha deals with material nearing the weight in 1 to 10 tons) are at a -7 without an exo-skeleton, -5 with just a Light exoskeleton, -3 with a Heavy Exo-skeleton, and with no penalty with the Spider Exo. SST+10, LST+14, Storage is 200 cubic feet (0.2-Dton). TL10 has 50% more ST and can work with up to 15 tons. Hold out Penalty NA

TL9 Load Bearing Exo Skeleton DR12/0, $10,000, 12lbs (-4 hold out penalty).
The earliest Exo Skeleton model. Primarily designed for health care service and the infirmed, it has also been used for military applications (rugged and crude 22lbs, DR24/0, 11HP, HT12, same cost, -6 Hold out Penalty). +4LST and +2SST (the TL10 version is the Stealth Exo).

Hold Out Penalties for Exo Skeletons: only from distant observation.

• Heavy Exo -8
• Light Exo -6
• Lower Body Exo -5
• Power Sleeve -4
• Ranger Exo Skeleton -6
• Stealth Exo Skeleton -2 (add the disguised x2 modifier to reduce it to -1, and x5 to -0)

Finally a Traveller Carrier!

Mythic Class Carrier

Doctrine: Carriers are primarily assault vessels, meant to overwhelm an opponent's defenses with high missile saturation. Fighters are meant to use 100 x 5 missiles to saturate an enemies defense.

As for Carrier defense, layered Fighter squadrons provide maximum Point-Defense, along with maximum relay effectiveness to keep enemy too far for effective sensor range and prevent battleships or cruisers a direct intercept vector.

Carriers cannot collect all its deployed fighters quickly and since fighters serve as screening elements, withdrawal is a messy affair for Carriers. This makes them in-effective in hit and run tactics without a large amount of preparation more powerful and supporting screening elements.

Despite the drawbacks, this carrier is capable of withdrawing thanks to its extra jump capacity.

Tech Level: 10.
Hull: 10,000-Dton Cylinder (210ksf, 210tons, $600), dDR 70 armor (7,350tons, +$88.2), Stealth (+52.5tons, +$15.75). 7,612.5tons 703.95
Systems: 300 M-Drive (1,200tons, $300M, -600MW, 60,000T-Thrust), 300 J-Drive (1200tons, $1200M, -600MW), 4,000 Fuel Tanks (Jump-2; 4 parsec range) (100tons, $80M), Command Bridge (5-Dtons, 12tons, $4), Model-9 Sensors (Scan 24) (20dtons, 240tons, $80, -80MW), 42 Heavy Turrets (63tons, $8.4M) (84 Pulse Lasers, 168 Missile Racks) (420tons, $168M ), Hangar (100x5-Dton small crafts) (110-Dtons, 150tons), 3 5-Dton Launch Tubes (6-Dtons, 60tons, $0.6M, -1.5MW), 2 Staterooms (16-Dtons, 4tons, $1), 50 staterooms (200-Dtons, 50tons, $5M), 300 comfortable cabins (900-Dtons, 337.5tons, $67.5M), 450 cabins (900-Dtons, 225tons, $45M), 250 capacity galley and multipurpose hall (375-Dtons, 125tons, $25M), 250 capacity recreation and common area (375-Dtons, 125tons, $25M), 250 capacity study, training, and exercise facility (375-Dtons, 125tons, $25M), 50 Armoury and Battledress Morgue (50-Dtons, 12.5tons, $5M), 50 Brig (armored cabin) (100-Dtons, 25dtons, $2M), 215 escape capsules (852occ) (426-Dtons, 215tons, $21.5M), 1 Repulsor Array (100-Dtons, 400tons, $100M, -250), 3 Workshops (7.5-Dtons, 45tons, $1.8), 9 Sickbays (9tons, $1.8M), 360 Fusion Plant (1440tons, $1080, 7200MW), 82 Cargo. Total 6583tons $3246.6

Statistics: EMass 14,195 tons, Lmass 22,507 tons (+760tons ammo, +300tons Supplies, +900tons fighter ammo, 6,200tons small craft, +73tons Personnel, +78 tons cargo), Cost $4,320M (base $3,950.5M + $152M ammo +$180M small craft ammo, +$0.3M supplies), SM +2, ASig -4, Hull dHP 15, 1600 life support capacity, sAccel 2.7G (3.7G with all fighters away), Jump-2 (4 parsec range).

Crew: 10 Command Section, 2 Gunnery officers (10% officer, 20% petty), 48 engineers (10% officer, 30% petty, ), 300 Ship Troops (5% officer, 10% petty), 200 Pilots and Co-Pilots (200 petty officers), 100 technicians (10% officer, 30% petty), 10 Flight Control Crew (10% officer, 30% petty, ), 1 Cargo Service (10% officer, 20% petty),

18 Maintenance (10% officer, 20% petty, 18 Medical (20% officer, 30% petty), 9 Life Support (10% officer, 20% petty), 12 General Services (10% officer, 20% petty ). Total 730.


I've reworked the Crew Quarters, so that it is easier to imagine. Now you can just check the cruise ship cabins sq footage so that you have a better idea what the interiors of the ship looks like. I've also realized that there are no considerations for space for personal possessions, and I've taken that into account.

Altered Crew Quarters: (7.5ft vertical clearance)
1-Dton = 40sqft of working area (5 x 8), 20sqft of passages (4 x5), the rest of the volume left is what walls and other stuff occupy. every Dton expands both the passage and the working area proportionally. The working space has about 6 cubic feet of personal belongings available.
Bunk Room 1-2 occupant, 1Dton, 40sqft (8' x 5')
Cabin Room 1-2 occupants, 2Dton, 80sqft
Comfortable Cabin 1-2 occupants, 3Dton, 120sqft
Stateroom 1-2 occupants, 4Dton, 160sqft
Luxury Stateroom 1-2 occupants, 8Dton, 376sqft
Commercial Quarters are +50 to 400% to more space.


Missile Pod
Doctrine. Used as Mines, hidden in the vastness of space or directed to follow a ship to add to its missile volume.
Since ships have a limited surface are for bay weapons and turrets, Missile pods allow the internal volume of a ship to add to the volume of missile fire. This is the standard Armament of Battle Cruisers and Dreadnoughts.
Tech Level: 10
Hull: 2-dton Cylinder Hull* (0.9ksf, 0.9tons, $0.045M), dDR 10 armor (4.5tons, $0.054M ), Stealth (0.225tons, $0.675M) Total 5.6tons, $0.17M
Systems: 1/2 M-Drive (2Tons, $0.5M), 1/2 Fusion Plant (2Tons, $1.5M), Model-0 Sensors (Scan 14) (0.5Dtons, 6tons, $2M, -2MW), Computer (Micro-Frame Complexity-8, Hardened, x3 Redundancy, Very Large Laser Comm, Very Large Radio Com) (0.5-Dtons, 0.55Tons, $0.12), 3 Hard Points (9 Missiles Racks, 9 Tons, $6.75M). Total 19.15tons, $10.64M
Statistics: EMass 16 tons, LMass 30 tons (16base, +16.2ammo), Cost $15M ($10.80M base, +$3.45M ammo), SM +2, ASig -4, Hull dHP 5, No Life Support, sAccel 2.66G, Top Air Speed 740 mph.
Programs: pilot (high performance space craft), navigation (space), electronic operation (sensor) , electronic operation (communications), artillery (missiles).

GURPS Traveller: Intersrellar Wars 5-Dton Craft

All these small craft are typically blended wing design.

Light Missile Craft
The cheapest and most bang-for-buck missile and screening craft for non-Imperial Navy types.
Tech Level: 10.
Hull: 5-dton Needle/Wedge Airframe hull (3ksf, 3tons, $0.55M), dDR 10 armor (15tons, $0.18M), Stealth (0.75tons, $0.23M).
Systems: 1-1/2 Maneuver Drive (6tons, $1.5M), Large Cockpit (1Dton, 4tons, $1M), Model-0 Sensors (Scan 14) (0.5Dtons, 6tons, $2M, -2MW), 3 Fixed Mounts (2 Pulse Lasers, 7 Missile Racks) (13tons, $6.25M), 2 Fusion Power (8tons, $6M).
Statistics: EMass 55 tons, LMass 68.3 tons (+12.6tons of Ammo, +0.2 tons of personnel, +), Cost M$17.8M ($15.3M base, +$2.5M for ammo), SM +4, ASig -2, Hull dHP 20, no life support capacity, sAccel 4.0 G (4.5 w/ 1/2 pulse laser capacity), no jump capacity, Top Air Speed 4,400 mph.
Crew: Command Section (1 officer), Gunnery Section (1 cew).
Total 1 officer and 1 crewman.

Crude: sAccel 3.0 G (3.5 w/ 1/2 pulse laser capacity) (+28tons) ($10.15M)
Expensive: sAccel 5.5 G (6 w/ 1/2 pulse laser capacity)(-18.5 tons) ($33.1)
Rugged: sAccel 3.5 G (4 w/ 1/2 pulse laser capacity) (dDR+7; HT12) (+11.tons) ($33.1)
Rugged Crude: sAccel 2.5 G (3 w/ 1/2 pulse laser capacity) (dDR+11; HT12) (+44.4tons) ($17.8)
Fragile: same as regular quality but with HT8 ($10.15M)

including Ammo

Light Assault Craft
Most cost efficient LAC for non-Imp Navy.
Tech Level: 10.
Hull: 5-dton Needle/Wedge Airframe hull (3ksf, 3tons, $0.55M), dDR 10 armor (15tons, $0.18M), Stealth (0.75tons, $0.23M). total 18.5tons $0.54M
Systems: 1 Maneuver Drive (4tons, $1M, -20MW, 200TThrust), Small Cockpit (0.5Dton, 3tons, $0.5M), Model-0 Sensors (Scan 14) (0.5Dtons, 6tons, $2M, -2MW), 3 Fixed Mounts (2 Pulse Lasers, 7 Missile Racks) (13tons, $6.25M), 1-1/2 Fusion Power (6tons, $4.5M), 1 Passenger Seating (1.5tons, $0.01M), 1/2 Cargo. Total 33.5tons, $14.26M
Statistics: EMass 52 tons, LMass 68.4 tons (+12.6tons of Ammo, +1.3 tons of personnel, +2.5 tons cargo), Cost M$18.8M ($14.8M base, +$2.5M for ammo), SM +4, ASig -2, Hull dHP 20, no life support capacity, sAccel 3.0 G (3.5 w/ 1/2 pulse laser capacity), no jump capacity, Top Air Speed 4,400 mph.
Crew: Command Section (1 officer), Gunnery Section (1 cew), Small Craft Seating (12 passengers).
Total 1 officer, 1 crewman, 12 passengers (typically marines in power armor).

The missile racks could be filled with disposable ECM and EW drones for approach and escape.

Nomad Class Craft (updated)
Tech Level: 10.
Hull: 5-dton Needle/Wedge Airframe hull (3ksf, 3tons, $0.55M), dDR 10 armor (15tons, $0.18M), Stealth (0.75tons, $0.23M). total 18.5tons $0.54M
Systems: 1/2 Maneuver Drive (2tons, $0.5M, -10MW, 100TThrust), Large Cockpit (1Dton, 4tons, $1M), Model-0 Sensors (Scan 14) (0.5Dtons, 6tons, $2M, -2MW), 3 Fixed Mounts, 1/2 Fusion Power (2tons, $1.5M, ), Cabin (3 occupancy cramped with hibernation bunks) (100sq feet) (2.5Dtons, 1tons, $0.5M). Total 15tons, $5.5M
Statistics: EMass 23.5 tons, LMass 24 tons (+0.4 tons of personnel), Cost $6M ($6M), SM +4, ASig -2, Hull dHP 20, 4 life support capacity, sAccel 2.2 G, no jump capacity, Top Air Speed 4,400 mph.
Crew: Command Section (1 officer), Small Craft Seating (4 passengers).
Total 1 officer, 3 passengers.

Hangars vs Vanilla Cargo Bays
the advantages of a Hangar over a Plain Cargo Bay is that it is a cargo bay that sacrficed a small reduced capacity to be able to carry small crafts.
+57dtons, +27.5 tons, +$0.2M
Hangar (5x5dton) (+55 Dtons, 7.5tons) + 1 Launch Tube (+2Dtons, 20tons, +$0.2M)
Cargo usable space (if there are no crafts): 50dtons You can elect to remove the Launche Tubes but they are very useful for defense or attack (getting all the players out in 1 turn).

Passenger Jump Tenders: Instead of just providing the service to passengers some Hanger Modified Tramp Freighters can now carry small traveler's crafts.

Subsidized Merchant (Updated aug 24)
appearance: Looks like a wide based, boxy submarine as its has very subtle angled slopes. The whole forward section is composes the hangar/cargo bay.
Tech Level: 10
Hull: 400-dton Cylinder Streamlined hull* (28.9ksf, 28.9tons, $28M), dDR 10 armor (144.5tons, $1.7M ), Stealth (7.2tons, $2.2M) Total 180.6tons, $31.4M
Systems: 11-1/2 Maneuver Drive (11.5-Dtons, 46tons, $11.5M, -230MW, 2300TThrust ), 12 Jump Drive (12dtons, 48tons, $48M), 80 Fuel Tanks (80Dtons, 2tons, $1.6M), Fuel Processor (3.2 dtons/hour) (1dton, 4tons, $0.2), Standard Bridge (2.5Dtons, 12tons, $1M, 3xMicroframe-C8), Model-3 Sensors (Scan-18) (2dtons, 24tons, $8M, -8MW), 5 Heavy Turrets (+7.5tons, $1M) (30 sand casters, 30tons, $7.5M), Hangar (20x5-Dton capacity; 220 Dtons, 30tons), 1 Launch Tube (2Dtons, 20tons, $0.2M, -0.5MW), 1 Stateroom (160sq feet; comfortable for 2) (4Dtons, 1tons, $0.05M), 20 Cabin (80sq feet; sufficient for 1, cramped for 2) (40Dtons, 10ton, $0.2M), Galley and Kitchen (sufficient occupancy for 10 and 2 kitchen staff) (4dtons, 1.5ton, $0.5), Recreational Area (4 occupancy comfortable) (4dtons, 1ton, $0.2), Workshop (2.5Dtons, 15tons, $0.6M), Sickbay (1dton, 1ton, $0.2M), 12 Fusion Plants (12dtons, 48tons, $36M), 1-1/2 Cargo (+200 hangar bay). Total 301tons , $119.15M
Statistics: EMass 482 tons, LMass 1,323 tons (482base, 18tons cargo, 2.1 tons personnel, 80tons fuel, 720tons of small craft. +21.6ammo), Cost $151M ($150.55M base, $0.018M tons of cargo supplies, +$0.144M), SM +9, ASig +3, Hull dHP 40, Life Support 41 (2000 man days of supplies), sAccel 1.7G (w/o small crafts 4G), Jump-2 (2 parsec range), Top Air Speed 740 mph.
Crew: Command Section (5 officers: commanding officer, executive officer/command pilot, navigator, sensor officer, and communications officer), Engineering Section (1 officer, 1 crewman), Flight/Cargo Section (1 petty officer and 1 crewman), Medical Section (1 petty officer), Maintenance/Passenger Service (1 petty officer). Total 9 officers, 2 crewmen.
Passengers: 10 standard passengers.

200Dtons of hangar space used for:
Regular Load: 1.4G (1000 tons of cargo)
20x 5-Dton Missile Crafts: Accel 1.15G (1360 tons of crafts)
Heavy Load: Accel0.8G (2000 tons of cargo)
Defense Notes: DR185 or DR37 vs X-Ray Lasers

Crude (+301.5tons): Accel 1.4G Cost: $75M
Regular Load: 1.2G (1000 tons of cargo)
20x 5-Dton Missile Crafts: Accel 1G (1360 tons of crafts)
Heavy Load: Accel0.8G (2000 tons of cargo)

Military Sci-fi Encounter

Mission: hold out long enough on the ground until Space forces can cut down enemy escape window. Enemies will have Orbital superiority, so the PCs side have to draw enemy ground forces in to very difficult terrain, like sensor scrambling magnetic polar region which have perpetual poor visibility (which also happens to be the best place to hide anti-orbital artillery).

Military Operation Scale. An enemy Task Force are bent in occupying a system. It is a very large force and this is a great opportunity to draw the fleet into a decisive fight. Basically, keep them there long enough until the cavalry can sneak in and close all the exits.

Enemy Task Force should be rather large, but the fast screening elements should be supposedly guarding Jump Entry points to the system. While Allied forces are well behind the system ort cloud and plan to micro jump to the 100Dlimit of all key strategic sections once enemies are all in positions.

Adventurer Scale. An occupying force will be attempting to raid a facility on a small dense satelite (1.1G) dangerously close to its malevolent gass giant (giving many sensor problems). The bounty hunter squadron will need to sneak up and position themselves on all escape vectors, before revealing their hand. The ground forces need to put on a retreating harassment long enough to give the allied small fighters to be in position.

Use the traveler Vehicular Adventure template modifications and the various templates and load outs. The variable role 6Dton fighters will be useful for setting up a cat's paw against a much larger and formidable opponent. Probably a sooped up 400Dton Frontier Merchant or Fast Courier. Or maybe a menacing baddie

Tech Level: 10 Crude Modified Subsidized Merchant
Hull: 400-dton Cylinder Streamlined hull* (28.9ksf, 28.9tons, $28M), dDR 10 armor (144.5tons, $1.7M ), Stealth (7.2tons, $2.2M) Total 180.6tons
Systems: 12 Maneuver Drive (12dtons, 48tons, $12M, ), 12 Jump Drive (12dtons, 48tons, $48M), 80 Fuel Tanks (80Dtons, 2tons, $1.6M), Fuel Processor (3.2 dtons/hour) (1dton, 4tons), Standard Bridge (2.5Dtons, 12tons, $1M, Mainframe-C9), Model-3 Sensors (Scan-18) (2dtons, 24tons, $8M, -8MW), 5 Heavy Turrets (7.5tons, $1M) (10 Pulse Lasers, 20 Missile Racks) (50tons, $20M, -50MW), Hangar (5x20-dton capacity; 205 Dtons, 7.5tons) (5 Assault crafts; 750 tons), 4 Launch Tube (8Dtons, 80tons, $0.8M, -2MW), 15 Fusion Plants (15dtons, 60tons, $45M), 3 Staterooms (12Dtons, 3tons, $0.15M), 7 Bunks (14Dtons, 3.5ton, $0.14M), Galley (4dtons, 2ton, $0.02), Recreational (8dtons, 2ton, $0.15), Administrative(2dtons, 0.5ton, $0.01), Armoury (2dtons, 0.5tons, $0.01), Brig-Bunk (2dtons, 1ton, $0.02), Workshop (2.5Dtons, 15tons, $0.6M), Sickbay (1dton, 1ton, $0.2M), 5 Cargo.
Statistics: EMass 820 tons (545 original, x1.5 for cheap), LMass 1,810 tons (36tons ammo, 25tons cargo, 7.5+10 tons personnel, 835tons small craft, 80tons fuel ), Cost M$303M ($171M, +$465M, all crude!), SM +9, ASig +3, Hull dHP 40, Life Support 86 (+100 from Assault Craft), sAccel 1.3G (w/o attack ships 2.5G) , Jump-2 (2 parsec range), Top Air Speed 740 mph.
Crew: (not Ready made) Command Section (3 officers), Engineering Section (3 officer, 10 crewmen), Cargo/Passenger Service Section (1 officer), Medical Section (1 petty officer), Flight Section (5 technicians, 1 flight technicians, 5 pilots, 5 small craft crew), Fire Section (60). Total ???

* a beveled Long box, with a menacing wedged front

crude pirate assault crafts Accel 4, LWT240tons, $46.5M each.

Considering to Bridge UT, HT and ISW

Couldn't ship costs follow the UT/HT x2 cost options? The escalating cost of +2 HT for x4 is a too big. Considering warship or frontier merchants who are required to operating far from possible proper support services, costs of X4 for a +2 HT seems to me inconsistent. Considering the huge cost jump, couldn't there be better examples of why it is such a valuable advantage that it justifies x4 cost? Because if its not that justifiable and from how I've noticed how my group looks at it then that rule should be reconisidered.

In my examination and tinkering, the Cheap Option in UT/HT is much better. Since Cheap can increase the mass, it will make a ship certainly slower. Example: Cheap Hero Class will have an Accel of 1.2 vs 1.5. Since Cheap also has the fragile option (-2 HT) the option for reliable trade off for price is still available.

Separating the x2 cost categories to Rugged and Expensive is also viable. The Rugged modifier will slow a ship down (+20% mass; Ex. Rugged Hero Class Accel 1.4), probably not doubling the DR (or just giving a +10% DR instead), increasing the HT by 2. Mixing Rugged but Cheap (heavy and not the fragile) option creates a can have x1.8 Mass and makes for a slow but affordable Frontier Operating Ship (Hero Class at Accel 1.2).

The expensive option, which really isn't that ideal for ships that are supposed to work in rugged conditions, would be great with a yacht (Accel 2.0 to 2.5), interplanetary shuttle (accel 1.3 to 1.5).

On Accel, isnt a difference between two accel, ex. Accel 1 and 6, merit a bonus far greater than half the difference? In the duration of a combat round, i just find the bonus disproportionate to my experience in flight simulations and how TDMs are scaled.

GURPS Traveller: Interstellar Wars - Vehicle Based Campaign

Traveller: Vehicle Based Adventure

---

In terms of space combat, I noticed unlike ground side engagements its harder to Role-play individual initiative in Space combat unless the Players are working as a group of ships OR if the rules were more elaborate (so that roles like Tactical, EW, Piloting, and Engineering can be role-payed tactically independent of the captains commands.).

A vehicle based Traveller Game will be pretty complex (since it will extensively be using the Space combat system) and is going to be very much like a Mechwarrior with most of the focus on the Vehicles. The GM will need to add a bit more literature to the ship combat rules for the Players and make up quick and dirty rules for the other stuff that has yet to be made.

Here is a simple set up of roles for the ship combat. Honorverse and Lost Fleet is a great source for Ship Combat scenarios if you can translate them into GT space combat terms. If anyone would care to contribute more sources, please do.

Blockers or Fighter = Point Defense Screening Element
Flankers or Striker = Missile Platforms
Controller = Primary Scanner, ECM, and EW Platform
Leader = Jump Capable Tender

I can see this can be quite exciting as an Bounty Hunter force hired by Frontier System Governors and Communities. Basically a party operating a Q-ships that carries a nice little surprise for Pirates and small ship forces like those of a military junta, guerrillas, and privateers. PCs could be owning up contracts measured in the Millions and Salvage Rights.

Akkigish Class or ISW QIAN class in JTAS can have twice the armament, Power Plant, and M-Drive load out of the Hero Class with more room left over.

The lightning class is also good but may be too well armed to lure prey. Certainly pursuit will be more interesting with the Lightning's legs.

The Phidippides or Harmonious Class could also be used modified to be highly armed bounty hunter ships.

My assessment would be that the Akkigish/QIAN would be the best for a varied play style. You switch between a ground side and topside when one or the other gets boring.
Ground Side objectives are pretty easy since it could be a simple as gathering intelligence or sabotage (and getting away with it) while under the cover of a Hapless Merchant.

Add Hangar Bay (5x 6-Dton variable-role ultra-light crafts slots)
+66 Dtons, +7.5 tons, +$0M
Add Launch Tube (can fit 10dton craft)
+4 Dton, +40 tons, +$0.4M, +1MW

If Hero Class
Add 2 Heavy Turrets
+3 tons, +$0.4M
Add 8 Missile Racks and 4 Pulse Lasers (disguised as Sand Casters, UT15 disguised)
+20 tons, +$20M
Add 3 Rear Facing Missile Racks on Fixed Mount
+3 tons, +$2.25M
Add (2) EW Drone Missiles Loads
+3.6 tons, +$7.2M
Add (2) EW Penetration Aid Missiles Load
+3.6 tons, +$7.2M
Add (7) Shape Charged Missiles Loads
+12.6 tons, +$2.52M
Add 2 M-Drives
+2 Dton, +8 tons, +$2M
Add 3 Fusion Plants
+3 Dtons, +12 tons, +$9M
Replace Model-1 Scan with Model-3 (Scan-18)
+1 Dton, +12tons, +$4M

Total
Cost $123M
EWT 313.5 tons
LWT 715 tons
Accel 2G

6-DTON Ultra Light Variable Craft.
Tech Level: 10.
Hull: 6-dton Needle/Wedge Airframe hull (3.5ksf, 3.5tons, $0.175), dDR 13 armor (22.75tons, +$0.18), Stealth (+0.875tons, +$0.26).
Systems: 2.5 Maneuver Drive (2.5Dtons, 10tons, $2.5, -50MW, 500tons of thrust), Small Cockpit (0.5 Dtons, 3tons, $0.5), Model-0 Sensors (Scan 14) (0.5dtons, 6tons, $2, -4MW), 2.5 Fusion Plant (2.5Dtons, 12tons, $6, 50MW), 3 fixed mounts 6 forward facing Missile Racks (16.8tons, $6.66 ), 2 TL-9 Pulse Laser (6 tons, $1, -5MW), Rear facing Sandcaster /ECM (1ton, $0.75).
Statistics: EMass 70 tons, Lmass 80 tons, Cost $22M, SM +2, ASig -4, Hull dHP 15, no life support capacity, sAccel 6G/5G with Beam weapons, no jump capacity, Top Air Speed 4,500 mph.

Quick and Dirty Rule for EW (until a better idea comes along)
EW Drones based on UT Expendable Jammers, since it closely resembles the GT:GF p112 rules. So instead of affecting Comm as in UT157, Drones Affect Target Acquisition. The Missile or the Gunnery Section officer re-rolls his artillery vs -2 per drone deployed (reduced ability because of the extreeme ranges of performance). Failure mean the missiles lock on to one of the Drones.

Penetration Aids do roughly the same but against Point defense. They give a -2 per Pen-aid to the Gunner's Point Defense roll to Hit. Since Recoil determines how many additional missiles were hit count the Pen aids first.

How Pirates can use 20Dton Assault Craft for raids. (The equivalent of modern day pirates attacking ships with fast inflatable speed boats).

Modify 20dton Assault Craft
Add Stealth Hull
+1.54 Tons, $0.46M
Remove 2 Seating and Replace with 2 Bunks
-2 Dtons, -2 tons, -$0M
Replace Light Turret with Heavy Turret
-0 Dtons, +0.5 tons, +0.1M
Add 6 forward facing missile Racks on 2 remaining Fixed mounts.
+0 Dtons, +4.5 tons, +$4.5M
Add 2 M-Drives
+2 Dton, +8 tons, +$2M
Add 2.5 Fusion Plants
+2.5 Dtons, +10 tons, +$7.5M
Replace original turret weapon load-out with 4 Pulse Lasers and 2 Missile Racks
+9 tons, +$3.5M
Add (2) EW Penetration Aid Missiles Load
+3.6 tons, +$7.2M
Add (1) EW Drone Missile Loads
+1.8 tons, +$3.6M
Add (1) EMP Drone Missile Loads
+1.8 tons, +$36M
Add (2) Shaped Charged Missile Load
+3.6 tons, +$0.72M

total $93M
EWt. 145
LWt. 167
Accel 6G
Life Support 21 (basic crew of 2 + prize crew and boarders)

Remaining 1Dton of Cargo are supplies and equipment.
Typically Armored Vacc Suit with Rugged but Cheap Stealth Exo-Skeletons
Boarding Tools

Basic Logistics.
- supported by corrupt system governments, corporations, and go-betweens of much more powerful factions.
- These patrons bail them out, give them targets, fence their goods, and maintain their ships.

Simple Tactics:
- Threats. A couple of well placed communication drones to give ample warning for victims to surrender without Giving position away.
- Trap A few EW drones to shape the sensor readouts in a way to make the ship plot a predictable Vector. Then sneak in as close as possible, if cover is broken use EMP missiles (1.8 ton load of 12 costs $3.6M) UT157 (roll against ships HT).
Example Procedure. Watch for the limited Jump Entry points in a system with Stealth Scan Drones. Plot navigation vectors for typical merchant parameters for safety and leave bait, misdirection, or a false sense of security or alarm.
The easiest procedure is for a ground-side to get advanced warning and sending it up to the pirates.
- Hunting Party Several 20Dton assault craft using tactics above. __________________