Book 1 is reviewed here: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10
A month without internet
It took over 4 weeks before my internet was restored. And made me realize just how much I depend on so much out of my control. And also, just how lucky I am as that was my only issue a month past the hurricane Helene. I did work from my mother-in-law's house, and she appreciated having someone in the house with her. But it is nice to be back in my own little space I've been in for more than 20 years!
Starship Construction
The next chapter covers all the parts from the checklist. And unlike classic book 2, there are a lot more steps. 27 to be exact! Well, technically 26 as the 1st step is the checklist itself.
Step 2: Starship Missions
Similar to the old one and two letter codes, the mission is determined first. And may even rarely have a 3-letter code. They left the classic codes in for the most part from what I can see, so that old classic ships should share the same codes: C for cruiser, S for courier or messenger. There is a broader, more thoughtful organization for the codes: Service => Activity => Type => Qualifier => Mission => Modifier. Services are Naval, Commerce, Government/NGO/Private and Unclassified. Activity may further break that down for some services, and the type breaks it down even more. Very much a classification system. For example, we can have a Naval Service with Combat Activity of a Defensive type. The Qualifier and Mission seem to be a single line for the letter code, so that a Qualifier of Minor can only have an Escort as the mission (code E), a principal can only be a monitor (type N). Step 2 is the table.
Step 3: Starship Missions
Step 3 is the refinement and a more textual description of the missions. It also includes descriptions of modifiers, such as Intruder probes enemy territory, Patrol operates within a defined region but without scheduled routes. For Spinward Flow over on COTI, there is a Modular indicating it uses modules. He has some mostly house rules that I don't always agree with, but it is his universe to play in.
Step 4: Hull and Costs
Like classic book 2, we have a table that has a size in tons down one side, and configuration codes across the top. This allows us the basic price for the hull based on how it is configured. It also gives the number of squares the deck plan will have, which is really not needed as you simply have to multiply the tonnage displacement by 2. But these books really love their tables!
We also have pods and barges now available, so we can add external modules to our ships. They are "detachable ship components". Based on rules versus house rules. Though in the end, probably the same thing.
Step 5: Configurations
We have a few more configurations than before but not anything really new. We have more details on how each configuration is affected by atmosphere, whether they can land or now, maximum acceleration and stability.
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| T5 Starship Configurations |
Step 6: Starship Hull Fittings
Now that we know what the ship is going to be used for, and just how big it is, time for some details. What is the hull made of - plate, shell, polymer, nickel-iron asteroid, organic or charged? And what kind of fittings: floatation hull, fins, wings, lifters, etc. Some are only compatible with certain configurations. And we have a few types of landing gear: skids, legs with pads, wheels. A bunch of little details to make your starship architect happy.
Step 7: Starship Jump Fields
Previous versions of Traveller started expanding just how the jump field works. Traveller 5 consolidates and adds to that. I always thought it as a jump bubble based on a lot of the early adventures and notes, then JTAS has that classic Marc Miller article for just how jump works, and I think that is where we suddenly had choices. The jump bubble is the standard application and produces the jump flash (which does not exist in MTU!). But we also have a jump grid, with wires and conduits. This produces a more refined jump so that you can jump closer to a gravity source. Countering this it reduces the armor value and creates a larger jump flash. I would have made it a smaller jump flash myself as it more closely confirms to the ship itself. But if damaged, you need to use jump pates to temporarily patch the holes. Which are also a valid jump mechanism and apparently how we figured it all out: "The original system for creating a jump field consisted of Bolt-On Jump Plates (one plate per 1 tons of hull)". So we gain a bit of a history lesson as well!
And we have formulas for safe jump distance, which now also take into account your engineer's skill:
D = S/E -K
- D = diameters from gravity source
- S = Jump Field Strength (see chart 07F)
- E = Drive Efficiency (see chart 10X)
- K = Engineer Skill and Jump Drive Knowledge
There is also another formula to avoid initiation interference. Very similar the formula above, and if you roll < 1 no interference. If you feel lucky, you can roll flux but if you roll it you have to use it.
The charts reference the section and table, so 07F is actually just above the formula, and 10X is in section 10. Though page numbers would be nice, this does allow for revisions without have to adjust page numbers. Though I would think professional layout software would handle all that for you. Jump Field Strength is 100 for bubble, 80 for grid and 140 for plates. And looking at table 10X we have percentages, which the text converts 100% to 1, so that a standard jump drive safe jump, with an engineer with a Engineer Kill of 3 and Jump Drive knowledge is 100 / 1 - 4, or 96 diameters out. Not that 4 diameters out will take much more time to get there, but it does give a bit of additional player impact to the universe. Each ship would have the base calculation, but then you can adjust it based on your engineers, which I think is a nice thing.
To Be Continued...
Yes, only covered less than a third of this process. And one of these days I will have to see about creating a ship in T5. May redo my old college 200-ton scout ship which was basically the classic type S but scaled up so that you could have 3 decks. The top back deck was a small library with a view port. Even then I really liked libraries. Still was almost a librarian!
1 Month Later
This is the first time I've been in a natural disaster. It was an experience that really impacted me in a few ways. I was really, really lucky, and as I say, my whole life I've been pretty lucky. But it was an odd experience to flush the toilets with buckets of water, cook on my back deck on a camping grill, and go to sleep when it got dark (okay, that last one is actually pretty normal for me! But to be fair I also get up a bit after 4am so that I can get to the gym before work!) It will be years before this area recovers - the road to the old gym (I am now a member of 2 gyms for reasons) goes by the river and there are houses and trucks still piled up against the few remaining telephone poles. It is very post-apocalyptic in how it feels. We drove through Erwin, TN and the river there has carved a whole new cliff face, and dozens of houses that used to be beside the river are entirely gone.
So, just like my experience as a technical support person for a year gave me a lot more respect for those who answer the phone when you have a problem, I think I'll have a much better appreciation of what survivors go through.
And less than 2 months until Christmas! Wow!
