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traveller:spacecraft

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Spacecraft Guide

The following lists commercial Solomani spacecraft common to each technology level.

Technology Level 9

Albatross Freighter (80dt)

A small conical hull with an engine on one end and a bridge and crew quarters at the front. Most of the rest of the ship is given over to cargo. In some designs the cargo area is left unpressurised. It is 30m long, 18m wide and 9m tall.

A simple intra-system transport freighter, typical of early pre-jump cultures. It was constructed in Solomani space towards the end of the Long Night, but prior to the formation of the Third Imperium.

It is incapable of landing on most planets, and its slow drives make it unsuited for long haul in-system flights. As such it is only found in back water systems where the technology to support anything more complex doesn't exist. However, some variants replace the old style ion drives with updated plasma torch designs, which improves performance considerably.

Condor Heavy Lifter (50dt)

A simple cheap transport to get cargo from surface to orbit. It is a streamlined box with limited aerodynamic capability. It is 22m long, 15m wide and 4m tall.

The Condor Heavy Lifter is simple transport designed to lift cargo from a planet's surface to low orbit. It is an old TL 9 design, and has been superseded by newer transports on most worlds. It is still sometimes seen in the outer colonies however, where the availability of better craft is limited.

The Condor is the most well known example of transport vessels from this era, and pushes the bounds of the technology available at this time. Most other vessels were of similar size and capability.

Technology Level 10

Spacecraft which pre-date jump drives.

Olympus Frigate (450dt)

The Olympus is a typical TL 10 design, a 50m long cylinder 12m in diameter, with main drives at the rear and command and control in an external bridge towards the front. Weapon systems are arrayed along the length.

It is a combat vessel designed for escort and support duties within a system. Lacking a jump drive, it must rely on jump tenders to reach other systems. Its combat effectiveness is much higher because of this however, and it was one of the most common light military vessels of the period.

Later variants tend to swap rail guns and mass drivers for laser weapon systems, or possible extra missile launchers. Early in TL10, lasers were still expensive and mostly untested in real combat. Having such a wide range of different weapon types in such a small ship increases maintenance and supply costs.

Zeus Heavy Cruiser (2500dt)

The Zeus is a bulky cylindrical design, 80m in length, 32m wide and 16m tall. The bottom of the ship bristles with heavy missile turrets, with beam and rail guns mounted on the side and top respectively.

One of the largest type of military craft available at this technology level. It is a cruiser class vessel, designed for deep patrol and rapid response.

It's main armament consists of 8 missile launchers, with a total of 64 heavy missiles. General tactics are to try and destroy targets at a distance with missiles, before closing to use beam lasers and rail guns. Designed to use these sorts of tactics makes it strictly a military vessel, not designed for boarding actions or customs checks.

Eagle Bulk Freighter (3200dt)

The Eagle class Bulk Freighter is an ugly block design. The oversized engines at the rear, kept external to the hull to simplify shielding, are quite distinctive. It mounts two heavy turrets on top (one fore, one aft) for basic defence.

One of the earliest interstellar freighters that was built in Sol shipyards following the Long Night, the Eagle class (and its many variants) stayed around for several hundred years before being superseded by newer and better designs.

Capable of carrying 500dt of cargo, and having a jump range of 1 parsec, it was an expensive way to ship goods around, but it was the best available at the time.

Fitted with two dorsal mounted heavy turrets, the Eagle has some defensive capability. It's low thrust and limited range greatly reduce it's ability to run from attackers however, and it was often seen as a juicy target if found in less secure systems.

Technology Level 11

Cormorant Freighter (400dt)

The Cormorant is a medium Jump-1 freighter, easily recognised by the double domed front and staggered block design. It is 38m in length, and 17m wide.

One of the earliest Terran Jump-1 medium freighters, the Cormorant made use of the smaller and more efficient jump drives that were the mainstay of TL 11 ship design. Affordable by small companies, it was ships like the Cormorant that revolutionised interstellar economics, by making frequent, tramp trade possible.

The next big jump in trade would be the small 100t free traders capable of Jump-2, not possible until TL 13. Until then though, ships like this were a common sight.

Eagle II Bulk Freighter (3200dt)

The Eagle II class Bulk Freighter is an ugly block design. The oversized engines at the rear, kept external to the hull to simplify shielding, are quite distinctive. It mounts two heavy turrets on top (one fore, one aft) for basic defence.

Upgraded in early TL 11 to take advantage of the improvements to Jump drive technology, the Mk II Eagle was superior in almost every way to the initial variants. Though it was still only capable of Jump-1, the drive was smaller and more efficient, allowing extra room for reaction mass and cargo.

Cargo capacity was upped to 700 dt, and range was more than doubled, with a 50% increase to acceleration. Some variants swapped cargo for reaction mass (or vice versa) depending on requirements.

Fitted with two dorsal mounted heavy turrets, the Eagle has some defensive capability. It still had a low thrust compared to the sort of ships used by pirates, but Q-ship variants could be heavily armed and armoured.

traveller/spacecraft.1387814314.txt.gz · Last modified: 2013/12/23 15:58 by sam