Let's Read: Traveller, 1977 Edition - Intermission, Part 2

Okay, let's finish off the construction of the Scheherazade, Bard Conley's favorite starship. Last time, there was a problem with space; the engineering section was too big. So, I'm going to retool the engineering section to make it fit. Let's see how it works this time.

Once again, we have a 200-ton ship. The maneuvering drive will remain at E level; I want the ship to be fast in normal space, and reducing it wouldn't save that much space. However, I'm going to drop the Power Plant to a C (saving 6 tons and 16 million Credits), and the Jump drive to a B, saving 10 million credits and 5 tons. It's also going to dramatically reduce the fuel requirements.

So, time to recalculate. 200 tons, which will cost 20 million credits just for the hull. The drives and power plant are 10+9+15, or 34 tons, and 24+20+20 or 64 million credits. I'm up to 84 million, and 166 tons of space left. The bridge is another million (85 total) and 20 tons (leaving 146) for the standard configuration. The Computer can stay at a level 3, for 18 million credits and 3 tons of space (103 million and 143 tons left). Add a ton of allocation for the fire control equipment, and that's 142 tons of hull space remaining.

Oh yes, the staterooms. For six staterooms, that makes 24 tons and 3 million credits. Cost, 106 million, and 118 tons left. I'm still not putting the death freezers in.

Now, back to the fuel calculation. With the reduced power plant, I'm only requiring 30 tons of fuel for the power plant and maneuvering drive. That's a lot better than the 50 I needed previously. The jump drive requirement is 0.1MJn, or 10% of the ship's mass (200) times the Jump drive number, which is 2. The new fuel requirement is 40 tons, so having a fuel tank that holds 70 tons means the ship can fuel up for one trip at a time. Well, that's 40 tons less than the last time, so I'll take it. Fuel costs a mere 500 Credits per ton, or 35,000, which is a drop in the bucket compared to how much building the thing costs in the first place.

Okay, so now we move on to the hardpoints. I'm only putting one weapon system on the ship, a missile launcher. That means one turret, which costs 100,000 credits and doesn't actually give me a tonnage requirement. Is that an oversight, or did I miss something? The missile launcher itself costs 750,000, so I'm going to include the fuel and the turret and round it up to a million more credits, which puts me to 107 million and still at 118 tons.

It's time to get my computer programs. I get 2 million credits free for this, so let's get the basics. I want Maneuver/Evade 5. but that costs 5 million right off the bat. Let's start smaller. Maneuver, Jump 2, Library, Navigation, and Anti-Hijack gets me to 1.2 million, so I've still got 800,000 free credits to work with. Oh, look...Generate takes up that exact amount. Yay! So, I've got all the routine programs I need. Now to deal with the fighting stuff. Gunner Interact, Target, and Launch are basic requirements, which cost a total of 4 million Credits. On defense, I'm still getting M/E 5, to give Jazon the maximum benefit for his skills, as well as Auto/Evade and ECM. That's another 9.5 million credits. Return Fire and Anti-Missile are both laser-based systems, so I'm not going to use them. I will, however, add Selective 1, just because it gives Bard a better chance to hit what he wants. And it rounds up the cost of the computer software to an even 14 million credits. And you though Apple overcharges! These programs don't take up tonnage, so we're at 121 million credits and still sitting comfortably at 118 tons.

I'm going to include Atmospheric Streamlining, because...well, look at the picture below. That's another 2 million credits; 123 and counting.

I'm also going to include a ship's boat, which is 30 tons and 16 million credits, bringing us to 148 tons and 139 million credits. That leaves me with 52 tons of space to work with; that's a lot of cargo space, maybe a bit more than I really want to work with. The Scheherazade isn't a merchant ship, after all. You know, I could actually drop the ship's size to 150 tons, which would save a bunch of money, and reduce the fuel requirements by 10 tons as well, leaving me with 12 tons of cargo space. That's not a bad idea. Yeah, I'll go with that.

Alright, let's take a look at the ship's Data Card, then.

Scheherazade (custom build)

1. M-Drive (E, 5G)                                        Model/3
2. J-Drive (B, Jump-2)                                   CPU = 5
3. Power Plant (C)                                          Storage = 9      1-Selective-1                3-ECM
4. Fuel (60)                                                     1-Target           1-Auto/Evade               2-Generate
5. Hold (12 tons, plus Ship's boat)                 1-Launch         2-Maneuver/Evade-5    1-Maneuver
6. Bridge                                                         1-Predict-1      2-Jump-2                      1-Anti-Hijack
7. T-1 (M) Gunner, 10 missiles aboard          1-Navigation    1-Gunner Interact        1-Library

Alright, that's not a bad looking ship. It's got a pretty sweet package of software to help it do what it needs to do, and it's fast enough to outrun just about anything it runs into. 10 missiles isn't a lot, but it's enough to do the job. All in all, I'm happy with the way the rules come together. The only question is how much space does the missile launcher actually take up. If someone can explain that part, it would be greatly appreciated.

Otherwise, that's it for this one. I'm going to take a day or two off from Traveller, then continue with book 3, Worlds and Adventures. Once again, if you'd like to read about the adventures of the Scheherazade and her intrepid crew, check out Bard Conley's Adventures Across the Solar System and see how the ship handles itself.