Stange New Worlds 1, Part 4: Trinity Class Ships

The Trinity class ships in the 0Hr universe:

Project Trinity was a government-funded undertaking to spearhead the production of a new generation of ships for the Nexan Colonies. These are planets founded a few decades ago by the Terra Novan Theocracy and are officially known as the Archdioces of Syros. 

These ships are meant for solo duties on the edge of, and beyond, civilized space. Though capable of fighting, that is not their primary purpose. They are well equipped for exploration and scientific missions as well. These are key ships of the Nexan armada that will be vital in mapping out the future of the Archdiocese, and humanity as a whole.

That last paragraph (and I removed several intervening paragraphs) matches the intent for this exploration.

In MTU:

The Trinity Class ship was intended as a long-range Space Patrol vessel, capable of handling much larger pirate or invading forces via the 3 vectored attack. While computer simulations showed a lot of promise, the ship was over-budget and finally stopped being built as being far too expensive when smaller and more nimble ships could do the same for less. While hull construction for all three ships was completed, and drives were installed, the computer system and much of the habitable interior were not completed. Juila Johon, seeing potential in this ship for exploration beyond the edge of the League and even Imperial space, managed to purchase the trio for a fraction of the cost. The Space Patrol was glad of the transfer. It took several years and a coalition of the League government, Montca Shipyards, Montca University and a large portion of Juila's fortune to finally outfit this ship.

So: an almost-mothballed ship and brought into a mix of public/private ownership. Bad news is just how expensive ships are in the Traveller universe: just the computer alone is MCr30 (a model 4 to cover expanded research and all that an exploration ship needs. Also using some of the arguments from COTI that, the way High Guard works, a larger computer gives such a combat edge probably correlates to better sensors and the like). Using the old shipyard application (and really should use one of those spreadsheets on COTI as several are up to date), we get this basic profile:

That does not include the medical bays, research areas and the like. Much of that will emerge from the play. One thing the deck plans show is really 4 bunks per stateroom, basically barracks. But that was for a much larger crew as it included marines. Using double staterooms for most of the crew is there is almost enough staterooms. My crew for the main ship:

• 11 command (+1 for fleet command, Juila?)
• 9 engineers
• 3 flight crew
• 6 services
• 3 ship troops
• 2 gunners
• 9 scientists

And note this is only for the main ship: there are 2 riders that are a bit smaller though almost identical.  They will be worked up in the next post or so. Though they will not have a jump drive (and now realize I need to account for that added tonnage and adjust the jump drive: each of those ships adds 1,400 tons, so our ship size total is now almost doubled to 5,800 tons. Meaning we need a jump drive capable of J2 with a much larger tonnage. Fortunately, High Guard jump drives are pretty small, and doubling the size from 3 to 6% works. Technically, at TL-C, we can only get to jump 3 but we've only got an oversized jump drive for the single ship. The main ship can do 2 jumps without the riders, and a single 2-parsec jump with them. Though I think I am fudging things a bit honestly.

The deck plans are close to what I want. However, to account for fuel and drives, the lower decks that show the drop pods are all fuel and engineering. But we can use the spaces between things for fuel and honestly, close enough for playing games. 

Looking through the Mongoose High Guard (and realize I have the Cepheus version as well!), we can also add the following:

• Life Scanner (TL C) capable of detecting and differentiating life forms. MCr 2.
• Mineral Detection suite, MCr 5
• Laboratory (25 tons for 6 scientists) MCr 6 (the CIC is now a lab)
• Medical bay (and there is one on the ship plans, though it says lab and now the medbay)

I'll note that no gunnery was added, and the question becomes: do I want to add any ship weaponry? They cannot defend themselves, and that should be a consideration. Adding 3 turrets oddly only adds 2 gunners (and realize because we have 2 batteries), but I think they may need to defend themselves a bit. 

Lab space and computer room, formerly known as the CIC

11 command - been a bit since I really looked at the rules. Based on High Guard:

• Commanding Officer
• Executive Officer
• 2 Navigators
• Medical Officer
• Communications Officer

Needing 5 more, we'll add 3 pilots for round the clock shifts, and since this an exploratory mission, a Science Officer, and an Engineering Officer. Seems like a Star Trek bridge crew now. We also have Juila Johon who is in charge of everything - this ship, the 2 support ships and the tanker. 

Good enough to start - not only am I repurposing the ship from the map and info, but MTU is repurposing a ship for its own use as well. 

And on an entirely different note: I bought the Six Million Dollar Man & Bionic Woman series a bit ago. Finally getting around to watching them. Nothing like good 70s TV for nostalgia!