No Refund Refit

Well, not a refit but a recalculation based on the 650 tons it actually is.  Using this on-line ship builder, this is the initial redraft:

No Refunds, Courier Merchant
650 ton, TL 13 Civilian Design, 274.43 MCr
7 crew (Command: 1+1, Engineers: 1+2, Steward: 0+1, Medic: 0+1)
4 High/Mid passengers

__Ton._____MCr._____EP.____
| ___.__ | _39.00 | __.__ | Close Structure, partially streamlined, fuel scoops
| _52.00 | _31.20 | __.__ | hull armour #3
| __5.00 | __0.03 | __.__ | purification plant
| _20.00 | __3.25 | __.__ | bridge
| __2.00 | __9.00 | __.__ | computer model 2
| _19.50 | _78.00 | __.__ | drive jump #2
| _32.50 | _22.75 | __.__ | drive maneouver #2
| _26.00 | _78.00 | __.__ | power plant #2
| ___.__ | ___.__ | 13.00 | agility #2
| _13.00 | ___.__ | __.__ | fuel, PP endurance 4 weeks (8 weeks powered down)
| 130.00 | ___.__ | __.__ | fuel, jump range 2 parsecs
| __6.00 | __6.60 | __.__ | hard points x6 with triple turrets
| _44.00 | __5.50 | __.__ | staterooms x11
| 250.00 | ___.__ | __.__ | 250 tons cargo capacity
| __4.00 | __0.50 | __.__ | workshop
| __6.00 | __0.60 | __.__ | 1 ton low berth, emergency6 ton
| _10.00 | ___.__ | __.__ | hanger space for 10 ton place-holder
‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒
| 620.00 | 274.43 | 13.00 EP used, PP generates 13.00 EPs

277.17 MCr (first ship, includes architect fees) built in 100 weeks
219.54 MCr (20% discount in volume, TCS) built in 80 weeks


CT Ship Designer by Matt. Visit https://tca-2014-12.herokuapp.com

I need to go back over High Guard and the deckplans to see if that is about right. Still off by 30 tons but the 0-Hr deckplans are really spacious, not your typical Traveller submarine feeling. From the site and the Starfinder page (lots of great ships there! Not really great for Traveller as they aren't mostly fuel tanks, but I can live with that)

And I know, I keep saying I'll do a Mongoose version. Here is a draft of that:

Hull: 650 Closed Structure 650 32.5

286 Hull Points

Armor: 2 points Crystal [16] 1.625

Aerofins [2] 1

Manuever 2 [13] 26

Jump 2 [32.5] 48.75

Power: TL 12 Fusion [20] 20

Basic: 130

Manuever 70

Jump: 70

Emergency: 30 = 300 points

Fuel [196]

Man: 0

Power: 65

Jump: 130 Jump 2

"Fuel Compartment" 1

Fuel Scoops [1] 1

Fuel Purifying 20 tons/day [4] .2

Bridge [20] 3.25

Sensor Stations x2 [2] 1

Computer: Computer/25 TL13 10

Sensors: Military Grade {Power-2] 4.1

Staterooms: 6 [24] 3

Common Area: [15] 1.5

Full Hangar [40] 8

Airlocks: 4 [8] .8

Gaming Space [3] .018

Medical Bay [4] 2

Work Area [2] 1

Rentry/Lifeboats: 6 [3] .12

Cargo [240]

===== ====

645.5 165.863

Not quite matching, so probably need to get back to the CT designer to fine tune things. Not sure why the cost of the Mongoose is so much less - need to check my maths! Probably will dump into a spreadsheet to add things up better, and be able to save off the info. Though part of the issue is the deck plans only show 6 staterooms, so that's what I did with the manual. I'll have to adjust the passengers to 0 probably to make the 1st one fit, and readjust the cargo bay a bit.

Mongoose does its power a bit differently, but honestly that part seems more to the original spirit of Traveller: you may not have enough power to run all the things, hence the ancient tradition of dimming the lights pre-jump. Note that I've added a bit of extra power so all things can be run at once. The only thing taking extra power are the sensors. 

Speaking of sensors, I know there are some quite vehement threads about having a nuclear power plant in space cannot be stealthy: basic TL 5+ sensors should pick that up. Mongoose does have sensor rules based on your equipment as well as the potential for stealth ships. While I can't say I like where Mongoose is going with Traveller (they are either re-doing stuff that has been done way too often before, or doing things that to just don't feel like Traveller), I do like the stealth rules and all that. And as Malik is the sensor/comms operator, I added 2 sensor stations as that is also what shows up in the deck plans, just behind the bridge. I like to let players roll for things.

Between the military sensors (no DM, but at least no negative DMs as per basic & civilian grade) and specialized stations that apparently have no actual game effect, the players stand a slightly better chance at sensing things. Of course, the player's skills add even more hopefully.  Think I'll start using some sort of sensor rolls when I get back to my next session of exploring the League of Planets.

More Plastic Scenary - Will I actually use it?

This year there is a LOT of plastic showing up: I received my Dungeons & Lasers 2 stuff and I am working on that, the Bones, Nord and Blacklist minis should show up, probably all on the same day. There is probably close to 1000 minis there that I will, at the rate I am going, will finish painting by the turn of the next century. And I am almost certain they will all show up on the same day.

I have been doing some of the washes and dry painting for the terrain pieces with varying success.

in the Dwarven mines

 The fantasy is a lot easier than the science fiction stuff in many ways. And sadly I am in for the D&L season 3 campaign because they have these sewers. And I've had 2 adventures run in sewers so far.

But: will it ever get used at the table? We've been playing the last year via Skype, entirely theater of the mind. While that does work for most gaming, sometimes I just need to see how the adversaries are positioned. And that does not need minis per se as I've used dice and coins to show the relative positions of people during games. Still rocking my battle map from college, though I did get a new one that is double sided, with hexes on one side and squares on the other. Anyway, while at least one of the other players has even more plastic than I do (and does a fantastic painting job!) we've yet to bring this to a table.

On the other hand, my Fantasy Trip group is all about the minis. They even bought a 3D printer to print their own. Although it turns out 3D printing is more complicated and time consuming than they thought. As we've all had our shots, I am hoping we may be able to start back with face to face gaming soon. And bring on the giant scorpion! 

Even if I don't get to use them (and figure out how to store them so I can find what I need!) I am still enjoying (at least sometimes) the process of painting. Even if my eyes have a hard time seeing the details at times. And as I bought a lot of flesh tone paints, ranging from light to dark, orc to troll, I have a lot of possibilities. Now to just practice until I get better!

I also really need to work on the model building. Or get some green stuff or other filler. I am just not particularly good at putting models together. Need to slow down and take my time. But hey, from a distance it is looking good at any rate!

Not sure why an Elf is on a plasma silo, but I would play that!

Montca / Yontin 1107 A639997-C

Felt bad about a filler post. Here is a picture of the Montca system. See this post for the initial details. I'd do more but sadly the lawn requires mowing. And funnily enough, when I do mow that, I oddly think about Traveller, The grass clippings, not worth anything here, could be a useful cargo for some system that needs biomass. Though the economics don't really make sense, it always make me think what is worthless on on planet may be valuable elsewhere. And that I never have completed my Traveller trade program despite many, many tries! I think the original Winform one was mostly there way back in 2009 or so. Getting laid off gave me a lot of time to write code for my own use! Not that I recommend it otherwise, but it was actually an excellent learning experience. So if you can, make sure you have a buffer set up in case something happens! And that too applies to gaming: it seems that a lot of my characters live hand to mouth, and while it is fun to play, in the "real" world I like to be able to plan ahead a bit more.