Starports - Port of Entry Review

If you've been reading my blog, you know I like starports. I've several posts where I try to expand on the starports with some sort of Universal Starport Profile. When Independence Games had a sale on their Port of Entry book, I decided it was up my alley. Bought the PDF & color paperback version and it showed up a couple of days ago. And then I remembered I had also bought the GURPS Traveller Starport book years ago. Now I've 2 Starport books! 

This is a Cepheus Engine book for the Clement Sector setting. But like most Traveller books, can be used in pretty much any Traveller or any other SF type of game. The first section covers the basics: ratings and what they mean. The classic ratings are there, but rather than a very complicated USP like I was coming up with, they just add a 3-star system, where 3 stars is your chef's kiss, and 1 star is it barely makes that rating. And from a player's perspective that is probably enough to help get the general feel of things. From a referee point of view, I may still go back & try to get a workable USP that has real game effects, and perhaps a set of tables. But I digress from my brief overview. There are some interesting aspects to the Clement Sector that I may end up using at least in part in MTU. While I use the SPA (which the GURPS book covers pretty well) there is a Captains' Guild that has some similar functions, though I am particularly enjoying the anonymous Starport inspectors. Something I think I will use, though under the auspices of the SPA. 

The next section has a listing of the various facilities and services that may be available, along with several examples. While I've yet to have my players visit an astroburgers, there are several Clement Sector examples given that may show up on multiple worlds. I wonder how interstellar franchises manage to keep track of things like that. The section of services is very complete with a variety of services that are inherent in the port such as traffic control and security, through cargo handling, a wide variety of hotel and restaurant types and so on. Unlike the GURPS book, pricing is not really discussed other than noting expensive options versus lower-cost alternatives. 

Astroburgers (and not sure where I found this image)

We then have a section on careers, with the Guild taking the place of the SPA and oddly the Travellers Aid Society for the most part. As a nice touch, there are even emergency services careers here as well as search and rescue. There are the complete career options with their mishaps and events. Meaning I need to update my bibliography for Traveller careers again! Most of the base careers have choices as to further delineate that job, such as a courier can be a messenger delivering sensitive information, general mail who carries the mail from system to system, or a money courier transferring physical money between worlds. What could go wrong there? I think there is a Classic adventure where a Naval pay ship has crashed. With all those credits just sitting on some planet...

There is a brief interlude after the extensive careers covering an example down port. I did not see a class rating in the several pages covering the port. Based on the description, either a C or B port. But oddly they did not rate it nor give the star rating. Unless I missed it, which is always possible. However - if I were to detail a port, one of the top things would be to list the class rating as that sets base expectations. Regardless of that oversite (mine or theirs) we cover the facilities, get some local color in (reminding me of the GURPS sidebars, though Independence Games uses italics to indicate someone's opinion). A couple of restaurants, a hotel or two, and facilities are outlined. It would be an info dump for the players, and not having section headers or anything to differentiate the text can make it hard to find what the players may ask about. But it does give me ideas about describing star ports and to try & make each a bit unique. 

Next up is a few pages of corporations and organizations. Like the BITS 101 Corporations (and I have a hardcopy from them: when I rediscovered Traveller I got a bunch of things like that, which is also why I have several of the GURPS books even though I am not a fan of the GURPS system itself), some may be useful outside the Clement Sector, but are definitely set up for that setting as most are Earth-based. And oddly I've never played or ran a game in the Solomoni Rim. Chrome is always good, and seeing how other people play is always useful. Some of those may well end up in my universe.

Next we have a lot of example locations, often with floor plans of varying usefulness. I'll admit I like looking at plans but often, they are hard to use effectively at the table or screen. But I think that is a failing on my part. Regardless, I spend a lot of time looking at spaceship plans and fantasy buildings and SF buildings and locations. So even if I sometimes have a hard time using them, I still really like them. As I also have the PDF, I should be able to use these on Owlbear.rodeo (which is what we use when we need battle space to keep track of where characters are; I need to see what we get if we pay for it as we're using the free tier at the moment). I also have pretty much all of 0-Hr's posters and PDFs and minis. Which sadly do not get used much either. Regardless of my meandering, there are a lot of floor plans. All of which are rectangular and square - one would think in a few hundred years there would be more variety in buildings. However, we've had boxes forever basically, so probably not going to change anytime soon (though the 3D houses being printed now do have some interesting shapes sometimes).

A section on grav lifts (forklifts that can fly) follows. Though in a lot of places, unless the vehicle rules are a lot different, you can probably get 20 regular forklifts for the price of 1 grav forklift. However - this IS a SF game so I want my flying cars and forklifts! But it is nice to have some mundane, working vehicles listed.

The final section is a large chapter for creating high ports. With costs. It would be a fun exercise to compare the GURPS rules against the Independence Games version. But in a quick review of both, they seem to pretty much cover the same material: hull sizes, shipyards and the like. And like a lot of Traveller, more for the referee than anything a player will do. Other than interacting with whatever the referee comes up with. I do like the section on station crew and residence which gives some good information. And finally, there is an example of a high port, Wallace's Pit Stop, that shows a 25K dTon station with the basic stats and some high-level plan views. It lists it as a class D port but does not give any stars. Thinking that the station designer did not read that part of the text. Using that and the fantastic plans from Yet Another Traveller Blog's Geomorphs you can create a cool station.

Overall, it was a pretty much must-buy for me as I do love this sort of thing. The artwork is pretty much the Independence Games style of what I think are Poser characters and computer art. While I prefer old-school line drawings, the world is no longer in the 70s. Some of the pieces are really good others, at least those with the poser figures, hit that uncanny valley feel. The book would be useful for referees to create and better define their star ports and what should be available there. 

Anyway, more an overview than a review. I know it is something I'll read through more carefully at some point, and I may even try to build a high port using both GURPS and this book to see how they compare. 

And then I asked the AI to draw a Traveller RPG 50-ton cutter landing at a busy star port. The images may be useful for flavor. 

It was better than the Space:1999 Eagle landing at Moonbase Alpha! Though one could be used in an SF game at least.

Character Challenge 2022 29: Managing Director Lady Rowen Snow, Retired

Back to some Traveller dice rolling!  88656B. Human, female. And a knight to start with. Not too bright. There are a number of "noble careers" available to Traveller, from the Classic Noble, Mongoose's careers, and Cepheus Elite. Having not gone through that particular path, let's see how we fair when "you were a member of the upper crust of society, a diplomat or a junior executive".  Note that the careers are a LOT more player-driven than random, so we should be able to get someone without a tragic backstory. 

And the tragic backstory: a trope in RPGs that persists. My Sunday group the players all had parents that were killed or lost. My Monday group is not as bad, though there is a player that always comes from a tragic and abused background it seems (though come to think of it, his Apex character did not. So perhaps not always!) Why I want to play characters that had a happy childhood and background. I'm just obstinate that way, going against the flow sometimes. When it really does not matter. 

Back to our elite character. She comes from an inhospitable outpost, picking up Repair-1 (you get to pick one of the 3 home world skills). And with her 5 intelligence she has a -1 on all intelligence rolls. Which hopefully we may be able to boost that. And she has a max number of skill points of 11. 

Term 1

Basic training, so to speak. We start at rank 0, Analyst. Get one of the skills at 1, the others at 0. Grav-1, Admin-0, Liason-0, Carousing-0, Computer-0, Decption-0. I also get to pick 2 skills. I can also boost 1 stat. Choosing to boost intelligence and pick up Melee Combat-1. My UWP is now 88666B. 

Event: Conspiracy. I can go along with the conspiracy but if I get caught, a prison term. If I refuse, I gain an enemy. I'll let the dice decide: even I go along, odd I refuse. 4, even, so let's see if I can roll 8+ to join the conspiracy and not get caught! A 9, so I also gain Deception-1. Apparently, I am sneaky now.

I also can pick up a trait. At this point, going with the conspiracy event and her deception skill, our elite is also a thief: specialized in stealing goods & selling them on the black market, she throws with advantage.

Term 2

Automatically rank 1 now, a supervisor. This is more corporate elite than social elite. I can pick 2 skills. Think I'll boost Melee Combat-2 and Grav Vehicle-2. A fighter and driver. 

Event: I receive an inheritance from a rich relative, so will gain an extra benefit roll. And note that I can also increase rank as part of the benefits, so that is something to remember.

Term 3

Still well under my skill limit, but I'm going to boost my endurance as that factors into hit points in the Cepheus engine. UWP 88766B. And we'll bump Computer-1. No rank increase this term. 

Event: Cybered! Cr10,000 worth of implants. Some of the implants are rather curious. While the idea of a prehensile tail is cool, everything you wear would have to be customized. And good luck finding a vacc suit! Having grown up on an inhospitable world, she'll take the internal oxygen supply (3 hours of oxygen) for Cr4000. And in going with her melee skill, the internal blades (2 retractable blades, so now she is X-23) for Cr5000. With the remaining credits, we'll add the internal omnicomm and the internal omnicomp. Throw in some cyberpunk glow tattoos and she has turned out a lot different than the noble I started with.

Term 4

Going to go with term 4 and try the aging challenge. I do want to rank up a bit more. Fortunately, aging is not as harsh as Classic Traveller. Rolling 11 - 4 for the 4 terms, we will be aging gracefully (and yes, I should do this at the end of the term).

Getting to rank 2. she is now a manager. She can pick 1 single skill, and in going with the thief trait, will get Liaison-1. We can also pick up another trait, which is also why I chose liaison: Proper Etiquette She knows the intricacies and rules of formal settings. Gains advantage for these high-powered social meetings. 

Event: She makes an alliance and can have a contact or leadership. The contact stuff makes sense in a game: it gives the referee a way to help the characters by knowing a powerful NPC. We'll stash this contact so she can be used to perhaps help out somehow. I am hoping that I can start a new Traveller game, and we could make this high port their home base. We'll see.

At age 34, the question is: do we risk aging? We'd get an additional benefits roll, and if we're lucky, a good event. Think we'll go once more

Term 5

She picks up another skill, and I'll take Leadership-1. 

Event: Life event - she spent a lot of time travelling. Carousing-1 as she travels in a lot of social circles. 

She also picks up blind fighting as a trait: she can fight in the dark. No negative DM for dim lighting and only -1 for totally in the dark. Yes, she has changed a great deal from my initial concept, but I really like this.

Aging: rolled a 5, so 5-5 = 0. But it was close - time to leave the service and start adventuring before he bones become too brittle!

Mustering Out

She gets 7 rolls - 6 for the terms served, plus the inheritance. We'll take 2 of those to bump up her rank to a managing director, which also gives her Admin-1. 

• 2 cash rolls: Cr50K + Cr20K = Cr70,000. Enough to live on for a while
• benefits: Explorer's Society (aka TAS/Traveller's Aid Society) and 2x the yacht

Interestingly, rolling twice for the yacht there are a few things to think about. She obviously does not get 2 yachts. Traditionally, rolling a duplicate benefit is a lost benefit for some things, but if this were a gun, she'd pick up the weapon on the 1st roll, then she could choose a skill. As pilot is a skill on the advanced education table (which she could not roll on), I'll do the referee thing and allow her the Pilot-1 skill so she can at least pilot the type Y yacht.

Now to work through the various pieces and put together a character sheet for Managing Director Rowen Snow, retired. Also boosting her yacht to this one from Yet Another Traveller Blog (an excellent resource, though he has not posted in a while). Her contact boosted her yacht up a bit, so the favor may be called in at some point.

With her cyber tattoos on, Rowen can be an imposing figure

And realized I forgot her yacht. Which is docked next to Lady Aidy's yacht.

After 20 years in the cut-throat world of corporate politics, Rowen figures she has enough to go her own way. Her years of high corporate offices and in the back streets gave her a more cutting edge than many of her co-workers realized. In fact, she carries two ceramic knives built into her forearms, and has picked up the unique fighting style of Grit'ma. Having made some credits on the side via some conspiracies as well as her great-great Aunt Petunia Rose leaving her some credits, she is not too concerned with her lifestyle. She actually stays on her ship. the Lady Rebellion, though she often has haute cuisine delivered. She is thinking about the things to do and spends a fair amount time at the Purple Fountain. She has inquired about the owner of the yacht next to hers, the Lady Prosperity, but has yet to follow up with a visit to the Documat.

Character Challenge 2022 2 Senior Scout Lars Sebiin

Initial rolls: 747AB7, odd roll so male. Allowing 1 extra roll, initial UWP 777AB7. Physically perfectly average, but very smart with a high education, and smack dab middle class (such as it may be in the Third Imperium). 

Having all those smarts, looking at which careers prefer that for enlistment. Navy he would have a +3 total, a higher chance at both survival and promotions, Marines +1 to get in, and an edge for commission. And so on. Merchants gives him a pretty good boost on most things, as does the scientist career. And all the other possible career choices.

And I have recently picked up the Cepheus Deluxe book, I suppose I should go through that process. What is interesting about this version (and now how many versions of Traveller and Traveller-like systems do I have? Best to look away, look away) is that there are no rolls to get into a career. This version gives the player a lot more control over the character generation process. No survival rolls. No promotion rolls - it is automatic on even terms (and possibly by random events). In the end this does generate a Traveller-like character, but without that randomness, for me at least it leaves things dryer. There is a story in the random rolls to flesh out the character. We'll see if the random events can do the same sort of thing.

I've always enjoyed Scout characters, and while the intelligence and education seem to want this character to be a scholar, and as I can no longer die in the Scout service (the dump career for those who roll crappy stats in the past, with the high likelihood of dying to allow you to roll up something better!) we'll give that a shot.

First, we have homeworld skills. As there are 6 sets, I'll roll a d6 to see what sort of system we come from. A frontier world, and I'll choose Survival-1 as my homeworld skill. This also helps with the background: there were no real scholarly opportunities here, and we've passed beyond what this world offers in terms of education. As there was a Scout base in system, we're off to join the Imperial Interstellar Scouts!

You can also choose your skills rather than rolling. I'm going to do my house-rule and roll, but then allow to pick the skill. I can see for some players being able to entirely control character generation is a thing they would like. I can also see the same players generating a very small subset of characters if they played enough. 

It is also noted that the total number of skill levels is INT + EDU. For Brainy here, that is 21 total points. It also notes you can swap a skill for personal stat increase. Something to keep in mind. And you can also swap a benefit roll for a rank increase. Interesting and I actually like that.

Term 1: Scout (Rank 0)

Grav-Vehicles-0 and Repair-1. Repair is a combination of electronics and mechanical, at least in terms of fixing or hacking into things. 

Event: A rescue mission! I rolled an 8 for the 8+ on Engineering, so pick up both Engineering-1 and a contact. Note that engineering is back to the CT version, and covers jump, maneuver, power and life support. Though honestly, I think I do prefer the cascade version of engineering.

Term 2: Scout (Rank 1)

Computer-1 and Engineering-2. Looks like he has an aptitude for engineering. 

Event: Cybered. Cr6000 towards cybernetics. That is a new thing! There are 3 classifications of cybernetics. With a Cr6000 range, there are several possibilities. He'll get three cybernetic implants that fit into the Scout world as well as his intelligence:

• Internal OmniComm (a cell phone in his head) Cr100. Which seems really cheap even for an external omnicomm.
• Internal OmniComp (neural internal computer) Cr300. 
• Internal filtration system to protect from airborne toxins and pathogens. 

Term 3: Scout (Rank 1)

Zero-G-1 and Science-1. 

Event: Ambushed! Choosing to fight and actually manage to roll a 9, beating the 8+ needed. I get a +1 on the benefits roll - maybe I can get a Scout ship!

I can also pick a trait, and having the computer skill, choose the Hacker trait. It gives me advantage on hacking and breaking into electronic devices. 

Term 4: Scout (Rank 2)

Gun Combat 1 (and this covers all guns and bows; Cepheus skills are a lot broader than even Classic Traveller) and Pilot-1. If I get a Scout ship, I do need to know how to pilot it!

Event: Survey duty. Science-2 for my brainy Scout. 

Aging: on the bright side, aging is a bit different than Classic. Classic is an 8+ to avoid the effects of getting older, whereas Cepheus you roll 2d6 and subtract the terms. 1+ is no effects, so you can go through a few terms before getting hit. Though, as per Mongoose, you can get hit really hard all at once. But I succeeded on this roll, so as per RPGSuite, I aged gracefully this term.

Another trait: Rescue Specialist. Helpful for those having issues in zero-G.

Term 5: Scout (Rank 2)

Grav-Vehicle-1 and Gun Combat-2.

Event: Xenomorphs! Fortunately, I bumped my gun combat up as that added the +2 I needed to survive! That bumps my survival to Survival-2. 

Aging: 12 - 5 = 7, so still aging gracefully, Only 38 (and yeah, in college when I played a lot that was old. Now approaching 60, 38 was when I was actually in my physical peak as I was running marathons. Though I never did break 4 hours, I still completed a few marathons).  I'll go 1 more term to get an additional rank and its concomitant science skill, and maybe take a stat increase. 

And in re-reading the rules, I was only allowed 1 skill at terms 4+. Leaving the gun ones in there and removing the others.  

Term 6: Scout (Rank 3)

I pick up Science-3 as a term skill. And I pull back that Pilot-1 as the skill gained this term.

Event: Life event! I travel a lot between the worlds. Well, yes, I am a Scout! I can pick either steward or carousing. I can't decide: he is smart, so would he be a party type or pick up basic housekeeping? I can see it going either way, so 1-3 for steward, and 4-6 for party time! Guess he learned to blow off steam - Carousing-1.

Aging: 8 - 6 = 2, so just barely this time, but still aging gracefully. 

And a 3rd trait (yeah). This time picking languages, so he knows 3 other languages (helps that he is smart and has a built-in computer so in theory could just rely on that. This makes it more fluent, and dare I say, organic). Going with the primary Alsan language and 2 Vargr languages. 

And enough - 42 years old, and ready to go. I also get a retirement of Cr7,000/year. 

Mustering Out

Going to add one rank to get to Senior Scout. Still leaves me 5 rolls, and one has a +1. Wait - 6 rolls as you get 1 + the number of terms served. Bonus!

• Cash: Cr10,000, Cr50,000 on the 1st 2 rolls. Between that and my pension, think we've enough cash to sustain ourself just a bit. 
• Benefits: +1 Int, weapon (stunner), Scout ship!, blaster pistol.

This character ended up pretty good. There are several updates to how Cepheus vs Traveller works. Some I like, some I am ambivalent about, some I don't like.

Senior Scout Lars Sebiin 777BB7 age 42

Science-3, Gun Combat-2, Survival-2, Engineering-2, Pilot-1, Carousing-1, Computer-1, Repair-1, Grav-1

Stamina: 7

Lifeblood: 14

Hacker (advantage on hacking into electronics)

Rescue Specialist Zero-G

Speaks Standard, Gvegh (Vargr), Ovaghoun (Vargr), Trokh (Aslan)

Has an internal omnicomm, internal omnicomp and an internal filtration system for airborne pathogens and toxins.

Stunner (3D stun damage), blaster pistol (4D), Scout ship, Cr60,000

Cr7,000/year pension

Contact: from a rescue mission, Baroness Aidy Redic

Growing up on a frontier world, Lars rapidly read through the entire colony's library and surpassed his teachers by the time he graduated high school. He went to the Scout base, and had a solid career in the Scouts, gaining scientific as well as practical and a few illicit skills in his 24 years as a scout. While he had an occasional adventure as when he rescued a noble woman on a hunting trip, or fought off an alien attack, most of his career was spent observing and researching worlds for the IIS. Retiring as a Senior Scout, the service granted him a Scout ship to explore the cosmos in his own fashion. Sometimes overly confident due to his intellect not being challenged nearly enough growing up, Lars can often come across as a know-it-all. He will rarely admit he is wrong and often will argue until it is just easier to give up. Unfortunately, while not knowing all, he does know a lot. 

well, technically a Star Wars character but close enough for me

Character 17 of 31: Space Patrol Marshall

Corporal Distoll Thite

46C597  Space Patrol, Marshall Division 3.5 Terms, Drifter 1 Term, age 32

Melee Combat (Unarmed-1), Gun Combat (Slug-0, Energy-1), Bribery-1, Comms-1, Zero-G Combat-1, Animals (Training-1),  Linguistics-0, Athletics-0, Battle Dress-0, Recon-0, Steward-1

Cr5,000, Low Passage

Hailing from the garden world of Fotose, Distoll had dreams of glorious combat ever since playing with his friends in the rolling fields behind his house. Being smaller than most of his friends, he excelled at running and just plain out-playing his companions. Getting a berth in the Marshall Division at the Space Patrol, he thought he would see the galaxy and live his dream. He saw all that and more, and in the end had to leave the service, a shell-shocked man from seeing too much bloodshed up close. While honorably discharged, Distoll took another few years to wander about, learning to get by with a touch of bribery, or if that failed, direct application of his fists. 

Where You May Find Distoll

He may be doing odd jobs around the starport, or perhaps a low passenger getting ready to be put into a low berth aboard a ship. He may be looking for a job - though he is qualified for combat, he suffers PTSD and may freeze under duress, or have horrible nightmares. He has a smattering of several languages, but it is mostly an impressive array of curses. He is capable with a gun and Zero-G combat, and gets along well with animals. He may even have a service animal, or could work as a personal assistant/steward/body guard to someone with an animal on board a ship.

A quiet man but there is a seething anger in him at times and he tends to lash out verbally and even physically. Then he'll close up on himself and go back to being very quiet, very restrained. His clothes are well-worn but clean and serviceable, and he occasionally lapses into his old Marshall training, standing at ready position when manning a post or watching the traffic go by. His eyes take in everything though he is very still for the most part.

Space Patrol Recruiting Poster that looks a lot like Distoll (they are AI-driven interactive posters that, using social media, customize the view for each viewer. There have been legal questions...)

Rolling on the tables I posted the other day here (and no, I need to update to add Darrians), I rolled a 7 for human and a 3 for Imperial, then a 1 for general Humaniti. not Vilani.

Initial stats rolls: 

• Strength 4 (-1)
• Dexterity 6
• Endurance 12 (+2)
• Intelligence 5
• Education 8
• Social 7

Rolling a 5 we get a male. So, looking at the stats we have what could be a marathon runner, perhaps smaller, a bit less than average intelligence but a great endurance. I've yet to run a Space Patrol, so let's see if we can get in there. It is a Cepheus book from Stellagama Publishing and a sort of localized Navy / Customs / Space Marshall option for a smaller interstellar entity than the Imperium. Being a Cepheus engine character, we need to get background skills based on where he grew up. My random Wiki system this time is Fotose. an agricultural, nonindustrial, garden world with a near-ideal, utopian environment conducive to most forms of sophont life. So we pick up Animals-0, and being both a garden world and an agricultural world. we'll just give him a level 1 for Animals (Training-1) and just for fun, Linguistics-0. 

For Fotose, the population and starport indicates that this world would have a class 3 facility: a smaller facility for worlds that don't see much traffic. Now to see if he can get into the Space Patrol: Needing a 6+ with my +2, I do roll a 9 which makes my acceptance into Marshall Division. The Marshalls Division is similar to the Marines: they form the boarding parties and assault teams.

Term 1 - Basic Training (18-22)

We pick up the service skills at 0 level. I barely survive with a 7 and needing a 7. A commission roll of 8 misses getting commissioned, though a 7 for advancement bucking me up to a Corporal and gaining Gun Combat. I also just barely get back in - the re-enlistment roll is 6+, and I just made it with a 6. 

Events: 3,3, roll on Life Events. Rolling a 5 my term was spent traveling and I can pick up either Linguistics-0 which I already have, or Steward-0. 

• Athletics-0
• Battle Dress-0
• Gun Combat(Slugs-0, Energy-1)
• Melee-0
• Recon-0
• Zero-G-0
• Steward-0

Term 2 (22-26)

I survive without a scratch with an 8, still no commission with a 7 (so close!), advance to E-2, Technician. This gives me a 2nd skill roll. I'll pick advanced education for the 1st and pick up Comms-1. Looking at the Marshall Specialist skills, rolling a 6 gives me Zero-G combat. And a 6 again just barely gets me to re-enlist.

Events: 2,2 I am given a chance to keep some confiscated goods. Making an even try/odd be honest, I roll a 1, so honesty won out the day. 

• Comms-1
• Zero-G Combat-1

Term 3 - Shell Shocked! (26-28)

A 5 on the survival roll - mishap! Rolling a 4, I am shell-shocked, and I've seen too much fighting and bloodshed. I have to be a drifter next term. I think this means I don't complete this term and leave in the middle, Leaves the character at age 28, But I do get 2 benefit rolls, and I'll split it between credits and benefits. 

• Cash table: 3 = Cr5,000
• Material: 4 = +1 Education: UPP 46C597

Drifter Term 1 (28-32)

Survival roll with an 8 means I live unscathed, and there is no advancement rolls so I can pick 2 skill tables. I'll pick the personal development and the service skills:

• Personal Development: 4 = Melee-1. 
• Service Skills: 3 = Bribery-1

And not rolling a 12 means I can leave this term, I roll a 12 on my aging roll, -4 = 8, so no aging effects, but I can ill-afford getting any weaker. So I'll take 1 benefits roll, gaining a Low Passage to somewhere.

Note

I will be out of town for several days and possibly unable to maintain the challenge due to some personal/family things. While I'll try, there is a lot going on that is a bit more important than gaming. Though I am probably going to fall back on this for an escape so there may well be no interruption. I've just no idea. I may try and stock up a few characters today (Sunday) but I need to pack things up for a long drive tomorrow so no idea. But: this has been a fun exercise & I have enjoyed reading the other characters people are creating. And: there is an A to Z challenge coming up I need to look into: that's only 26 instead of 31 entries. This year looks to be my biggest in terms of output at any rate.

Day 1 - Traveller 5 Noble

Day 2 - Classic Traveller Merchant

Day 3 - Classic Traveller Bureaucrat

Day 4 - The Fantasy Trip Goblin Wizard

Day 5 - FATE Vigilante

Day 6 - Mongoose Noble

Day 7 - Cepheus Ground Forces

Day 8 - Cepheus Monk

Day 9 - Mercenary Commando

Day 10 - Cepheus Scout / Drifter

Day 11 - Fantasy Trip: Elf Thief

Day 12 - Traveller Other

Day 13 - Delve Half-Orc Fighter

Day 14 - Classic Traveller Virushi

Day 15 - Mongoose 1e Agent - Political Officer

Day 16 - Fantasy Trip Gorilla Bard

Other Sites Doing the Challenge 

(let me know who I've missed & I'll add them here)

TravellerSandbox

Alesmiter

TardisCaptain

GreenSage

The Other Side

Barking Alien

Not A Snark (index)

Character 10 of 31: Cepheus SRD Scout and Drifter

Kara Sonez     983967  Age 40

Scout (2 1/2 terms)  Drifter (3 terms)    Cr45,000

Bribery-2, Gambling-1, Pilot-1, Comms-1, Streetwise-1, Gunnery-0, Electronics-0, Recon-0

Pistol, Low Passage

Born on Aberlocht as a station baby, Kara grew up on station, learning the basic safety protocols and how to access the system for her education. At 18, not knowing what to do, she entered into the Imperial Scout Service, wanting to see more than just the station walls for the rest of her life. Travelling via a tramp freighter to Kaurga, she was accepted into the Scouts. Her first term she plied the nearby by stars in the ISS Close Encounter  in training and courier duty, picking up a variety of basic Scouting skills along the way. She reads a great deal in her down time, honing her intelligence on those long jumps. Her next term, planetside she picks up some basic fighting skills - bar fights and Scouts go hand in hand. She starts to specialize in communications. Her third term, while she was honorably discharged, she had to fight for that with a lengthy legal process. The next several years she drifted about, learning to grease palms and getting stronger living out on the edges of civilization. The first few years were a fight for survival at times, but eventually she learned the ins and outs. She drifted to the Spinward Marches, looking for a more open place. Now, left with Cr45K, a low passage to nowhere and her trusty body pistol, she is ready to start looking to settle down perhaps.

Decided to try the "raw" Cepheus SRD rules for character generation. And I finally rolled an even number, so we have a woman this time around. I also think I may generate a species chart so it is not always human as well. Though it will tilt heavily to human, no reason not to have an Aslan, Bwap or Vargr for a Traveller character. May even allow for minor races: I think I once rolled up an Ael Yael character.

1. Characteristics
1. Stats:
1. Strength: 7 (0)
2. Dexterity: 8 (0)
3. Endurance: 3 (-1)
4. Intelligence: 7 (0)
5. Education: 6 (0)
6. Social: 7 (0)
2. Homeworld
1. Determine home world. With a near infinite number, I did an entirely random thing: hit up the Traveller Wiki & hit random page until a world came up: Aberlocht. A TL-C world in the Ushra subsector in the Domain of Vland. From the heart of the Imperium.
2. Background skills. Having no EDU modifier, she can have 3. Aberlocht is a low pop world with a medium law level and a decent TL, so I chose Gun Combat (Slug), Computer-0 and throw in Vacc-0 since according to the Wiki, people are not generally allowed on the planet and all is handled via the orbital starport.
2. Choose a career. I let fate decide and roll on the draft table. A 5 gives me a Scout. I've always been partial to playing Scout characters.
1. Scouts career
1. Term 1 (18-22)
1. Basic Training: the first term I pick up all the service skills at 0, giving me Comms, Electronics, Gun Combat, Gunnery, Recon and Pilot. I'm going to interpret my Rank 0 as giving me Pilot-1.
2. Survival. This is where my -1 DM for endurance will suck: I need to roll 8+ to not suffer an injury! And I manage exactly an 8, so survive unscathed from basic training! There are no ranks in the Scouts (harking back to Classic before Book 6 came out), so no rolls for advancements. However, because of that I get a 2nd skill roll, and choosing personal in the hope I can get my endurance up, I roll a 4, boosting my INT. UPP: 783867.
2. Term 2 (22-26)
1. Survival: 9, so I did not go down with the Scout ship!
2. Skills. Roll again on the personal and I roll a 6, Melee Combat. Roll on the service skills for a, Comms-1.
3. Term 3 (26-3028)
1. Survival: 4! I can choose to die, or roll on the mishap table. I'm getting soft in my old age, so we'll check the mishap table. Fortunately a 3 says I am honorably discharged after a lengthy legal battle, and I now have a Cr10,000 legal debt. I age 2 years and receive no benefit roll for this term.
4. Benefits. Having two rolls I'll roll once on each:
1. cash: 6 - Cr50,000! Paying off my debt leaves me Cr40,000. A lucky roll!
2. benefits: 2 - +1 Int. My final UPP 783967. That gives my Int rolls a +1 DM.
3. Another career? Choosing to go ahead, I see that the Agent career relies on Int for survival, and as per a conversation over on COTI on ex-Scouts being excellent intelligent agents, this scratches that itch for me. Even with my social, I do not make the roll as there is a -2 DM as this is my second career. Rolling a 5 +1 -2 says a 4, and I am not accepted into spy school. I can either go the draft or drifter, and think I'll choose drifter. Sadly my low endurance will affect my chance of survival!
1. Drifter career
1. Term 1 (28-32)
1. Survive: needing a 5+, I roll a 6, -1 for the DM for a 5. It was an exciting 1st four years apparently.
2. Skills: having no ranks as per Scouts, I have two rolls. Rolling on the personal, I get a 5, Bribery-1. Seeing as that was a skill, I'll roll again on the personal: 1, +1 Strength. UPP: 883967. 
3. re-enlist with a 8. Exactly how does one re-enlist in the drifter career?
2. Term 2 (32-36)
1. Survive: 11! It was a lot easier this term apparently. Must have been an easier world to get around on.
2. Skills. Going with personal, a 1 again for +1 Strength: UPP 983967. She is getting buffed up! Rolling on the service skills, 1 gives me Streetwise-1.
3. re-enlist. A roll of 8 says I can re-enlist, but next term I'll have to make an aging roll. Think I'll risk a 3rd term.
3. Term 3 (36-40)
1. Survival roll: 7, so I live to see another term.
2. Skills: a 5 on the personal gives me Bribery-2. I know how to grease palms apparently. A second roll on the personal gives me Gambling-1. This character ended up being a lot sneakier than I started out with.
3. Aging. With a roll of 12, then subtract the 6 terms for a 6, I am aging gracefully and there are no effects. However, I feel I am ready to get this character on the road.
4. Benefits. Three rolls, and a +1 on the cash table.
1. Cash: 4 + 1 = 5, Cr5,000 (total: Cr45,000)
2. Benefit: weapon. I choose a hand gun as she has that skill. The body pistol is always good as you can sometimes manage to sneak this plastic and resin based weapon past security.
3. Benefit: low passage. Maybe she can gamble on the Low Berth Lottery. 
4. Final character
1. 2 1/2 terms Scout, 3 terms a drifter, UPP 983967

1. 

   
   
   
   

   Day 1 - Traveller 5 Noble

   Day 2 - Classic Traveller Merchant

   Day 3 - Classic Traveller Bureaucrat

   Day 4 - The Fantasy Trip Goblin Wizard
   Day 5 - FATE Vigilante
   Day 6 - Mongoose Noble
   Day 7 - Cepheus Ground Forces
   Day 8 - Cepheus Monk
   Day 9 - Mercenary Commando

   Other Sites Doing the Challenge 

   (let me know who I've missed & I'll add them here)

   TravellerSandbox

   Alesmiter

   TardisCaptain

   GreenSage

   The Other Side
   Barking Alien

Character Challenge 8 of 31: Cepheus Clergy: Monk

Mase Cooking

339981 Cleric 1 term, age 22 

Cr10,000

Language-1 (Sagamaal), Admin-0, Persuade-0, Advocate (Oratory-0), Streetwise-0, Diplomate-0

How you may meet Brother Mase

Now an itinerant street preacher, Brother Mase is often at street corners, an alms bucket at his feet, calling out verses in Old Sagaamal. Wearing the robes for Asatrul, he can cite, verse for verse, the two Eddas. While a weak looking man hunched over, his sonorous voice can fill the street for hours. He speaks Galanglic as well. He is a monk of the Forn Sidr, or the Old Way, a splinter group of the original Sword Worlders. 

Initial rolls:

• Strength = 3
• Dexterity = 5
• Endurance = 10
• Intelligence =  9
• Education = 9
• Social = 6

My odd/even rolled a 1 for yet another male. One would think that 8 odd rolls in a row is not too likely, but as each roll is independent of previous rolls, it is just as likely (and my stats class was 35+ years ago so we'll just leave that roll alone).

Traveller does not have any real defined religions. While the Vargr have a few pseudo-religions I think, it is mostly just left to the group. Which I think is a good choice as the subject could get confrontational even though we're playing a game. Why, I remember in my Philosophy of Religions class people thought it was a religious class and had a hard time abstracting out personal beliefs. But I digress...Back to Traveller. The Diverse Roles from Gypsy Knights Games (which is now Independence Games) has several unique career paths. Playing a paladin in my current game I thought we'd try a clergy member in the far future! And seeing how close Joketre is to the Sworld Worlds, I decided to go with a Norse religion, so a little bit of research (very little!) got me the link above. I may try & expand it out as it applies to the far future in a future post if anyone would be interested.  

Minor note: for a lot of my characters when I play them, I try to get a bit of information for the era it takes place in, if this is historical. I like having some background that exists in the assumed setting fit in. This is why Sir Zay has a family history from a few parts of the World of Greyhawk: I needed some nobility and found a map and picked a few domains. My Cthulu character was a suffragist, and I did a bit of reading into that; Anna the Gray Cat let me do a bit of history spelunking for the 1932 Olympics and 1930's slang. However, I've not read any of the Sword Worlder stuff - need to one of these days! So RPGs can be good learning tools as well.

I need an 8+ to get in, and with an INT of 9 I do not get a bonus. Going to fudge the roll as the 1st one I rolled a 4, and for some reason I have my heart set on a cleric of some sort. So giving me one more time, I roll exactly an 8. Would I allow this for a player when starting a game? Maybe - or perhaps let the player roll a new set of stats and try again with a new character. It would depend on how we both wanted to game. 

Using these rules, I can again go through my childhood. I'll actually pick a planet from the Spinward Marches, one with a religious dictatorship. The TravellerMap has a search API and I found the ONLY religious dictatorship in the Spinward Marches: Joketre. I really like the TravellerMap! For background skills on a TL-7 planet with a thin atmosphere and 40% water covering, going to go with Drive-0 for those gas-guzzling cars and Admin-0, having to read real books.

Next I need to choose which sort of clergy I want to be: an evangelist, a minister or a monk. A monk of some interesting order would be fun! Plus I could use one of the other Kickstarter supplements to devise some sort of a religion perhaps.

For the ages of 4-8, I again seem to have a crappy childhood, rolling a 1,2 gives me a childhood disease robs me of 1d3 from one of my stats, and they are not great to begin with. Explains why I may look to a higher power for answers. Rolling a 1 means it is only 1 point, so as I have plenty of endurance, it gets moved to 9 (UPP: 359996). For the 2nd youth roll for 18-12 I get 5,5, getting into youth sports, I gain Athletic-0. 

Hitting my teen years, 12-14 I roll 5,6 and I take up a part time job. I can gain another skill and choose Electronics-0. For 14-16, I roll crappy: 1,1. My parents are killed in an accident, and I lose 1d6 from social and 1d3 from education! Social hit: 5, Education hit: 4 or 2. UPP: 359971. A social pariah now. The monastery could well be the only place that takes me in!

Going back to my original idea, we now have multiple reasons for Mase Cooking to join a religious order as he really has no place to go, became a ward of the religious state. 

Term 1 - Basic Monk Training

Survives on a roll of 9 (apparently monks can lead a dangerous life: there is a good chance of injury, needing an 8+ to survive unscathed!). First term he picks up the service skills so: 

Admin-0, Language (Sagamaal-0), Persuade-0, Advocate (Oratory-0), Streetwise-0, Diplomat-0

Rolling a 10, Brother Mase moves to rank 2, picking up a language 1, giving him Sagamaal-1. I chose a Sword World language as they are the nearest non-Imperial political group. Their religion may well be a Norse-driven type of religion, a splinter group of the Sword Worlds perhaps. And it looks like beyond basic training, I still get to roll on a skills table. Sticking w/service skills to see if I can bump up any of my sad stats. Rolling a 5 gives me a +1 Education, so gaining back a bit of the lost. UPP: 359981. Looks like there is no re-enlistment roll, but rolling an 8 should allow me to stay regardless. Mase is now 22, and will take another term in the church.

Term 2 - Injury and leaving the monestary

Rolling a 5 for survival, a mishap occurs! Rolling a 9, the ship I am in crashes, and I have to roll twice on the injury table as well as being ousted from the clergy. Unless stated this does not add to his age. Rolling a 3 I lose 2 from either strength or dexterity. I choose dexterity which gives me a 3 dexterity. The 6 is a light injury, so no permanent damage. 

Mustering out

Getting all of 1 roll on the mustering out table, the benefits do not offer any physical stat updates, so we'll leave him with a bit of credit: 6 gives him Cr10,000. Enough for a while, or if he is off-world, a ticket home.

My characters so far

Day 1 - Traveller 5 Noble

Day 2 - Classic Traveller Merchant

Day 3 - Classic Traveller Bureaucrat

Day 4 - The Fantasy Trip Goblin Wizard

Day 5 - FATE Vigilante

Day 6 - Mongoose Noble

Day 7 - Cepheus Ground Forces

Other Sites Doing the Challenge 

(let me know who I've missed & I'll add them here)

TravellerSandbox

Alesmiter

TardisCaptain

GreenSage

The Other Side

Barking Alien

Chimerical Realm

Character Challenge 7 of 31: Cepheus Ground Forces

Captain Stine Gyrante

C9CBB9 age 32, 2 years of college, Ground Forces 3 terms

Cr13,000

Leadership-1, Gun Combat (Slug Rifle 1, Slug Pistol-0), Military Tactics-1, Electronics (Computer 1), Language (English 1, Hindi 1), Streetwise-0

The Clement Sector books are based on the Cepheus system, which is based on the Mongoose Open Game License (I think, the open source version of Mongoose 1st edition). The rules are similar to Mongoose, but more specific to their universe. It also includes uplifted animals (as did T20, the d20 version of Traveller, and I think GURPS may have had uplifts). They also adjust the aging a great deal and a few other tweaks. One of the major tweaks is in rolling the stats, you roll 3d6 and take the 2 highest. It leads to some high stats, and I may forgo that in future Cephius / Independence character generation:

• Strength [6,6,1] = 12
• Dexterity [5,4,1] = 9
• Endurance [6,5,4] = 11
• Intelligence [6,5,4] = 11
• Education [6,5,3] = 11
• Social [5,4,1] = 9

I rolled on the sector table for which sector our Stine hails from, and with a 1 it was Earth Sector, and then a d100 roll of 19, Stine is from Earth itself. Never played in Sol Sector :)  Background skills for Earth are Language-0 and Computers-0.

They also have some optional sections if you want to roll up their childhood. There are two rolls on a d66 table for childhood events: somewhere between 4-8 Stine was abused and beaten by someone in his extended family. That took a dark turn...I play games to get away from ugly things. However, it could be a pivotal characteristic later: either he is really cowardly around some people, he stands up for the little guy more, or adopts a lot of kids. Could be a number of reactions to that. Between 9 and 12 he got lost on a trip. There were 3 options, and rolling a d3 for 4 (aka 3) I picked up Streetwise-0, finding my way home in the mean streets. For a life event, I was injured. Linking this back to the beating I took earlier, I also lost 2 to my strength (12 -> 10). I do hope there was justice in the end.

Moving on to the teen years, rolling a 2,2 my family really wants strong young people. I can choose Athletics-0 or pick up a stat. I chose to +1 in strength, getting me almost back where I was (10 -> 11). And apparently my parents, finding out about the earlier beating, thought I should learn to defend myself, so pick up Gun (slug) as a 0 level skill: I know which way to point the thing. And as with most teenagers, a relationship ended badly on that roll, losing a contact or ally. 

Deciding college is the thing for me (though he already has a high education, college, if you succeed, gives you a level 2 skill for your major and a level 1 for your minor, so is a pretty good deal for skills). I also gave it a 50/50 chance, even odd, and rolling a 2 off to college goes our Mr. Stine. His entry roll of 6 did not meet the requirements but he got a DM based on his EDU modifier and squeaked in. Rolling an 8 for success, he would pass all 4 year. With a 6 for honors, though, he did not earn honors. While normally he would get a bump in his education and the 2 aforementioned skills, rolling a 1,4 on the events table and a war has broken out. Stine gets drafted, to hopefully finish his college career later. He is forced to enter the Ground Forces for d3 terms, (rolling a 4, so 2 terms. Apparently a long war). 

Term 1

In term 1, being a recruit, he automatically picks up Gun Combat 1. Of the 3 careers in Ground Forces, I rolled a 5 so off to Heavy Weapons to learn how to fire the big guns. I barely survive the survival roll with a 6. I fail my commission roll with a 4, but do succeed on the advancement roll with a 10, making me Corporal Gyrante. Choosing the Heavy Weapons specialist table, I roll a 1 for Military Tactics. Rolling a 6,6 on the events table, Stile was very heroic and gains his commission. Lieutenant Gyrante at your service now! He also picks up Leadership-1 from his promotion. He lead the troops to a victorious defeat of the enemy in the Battle of Harcheese.

Term 2

Term 2 I rolled a 6, so there are no injuries this term. Rolling a 9, he is promoted to Captain. Choosing the service skills table, a 3 gives him Electronics, and I choose to set his computer skill up a bit. Finally, the event roll of 3,2 gets me to roll on the Life Events table, and a roll of 12 there lets me know that something wonderful has happened, giving me a +2 on a single benefit roll when mustering out. Now to decide to continue on or not as he has served his draft terms. Seeing as he is an officer, and rewarded for being brave, we'll go at least one more term

Term 3

Rolling a 9, he easily survives. A roll of 6 means he missed his promotion, even with the intelligence DM. Choosing service skills and rolling a 2, Stine picks up Melee combat. Rolling a 5,2 on the d66 table Stine took the time to learn a 2nd language. Since I never picked out the 1st language, I'll roll twice to get my primary language and 2ary language. And...it is not really a table that rolls easily. So I'll just pick English and Hindi. And not getting a promotion bummed out the captain, so he is mustering out to see the rest of the galaxy.

Mustering Out

Having served 3 terms we get 3 rolls on the mustering out table. 

Cash roll 1: 3 for Cr 8,000

Benefits roll 1: 2 (but adding 1) gives me a 4 for +1 endurance (11 -> 12). Sometimes you have to push those heavy weapons around!

Cash roll 2: : 2 for Cr5,000

Day 1 - Traveller 5 Noble

Day 2 - Classic Traveller Merchant

Day 3 - Classic Traveller Bureaucrat

Day 4 - The Fantasy Trip Goblin Wizard

Day 5 - FATE Vigilante

Day 6 - Mongoose Noble

Other Sites Doing the Challenge 

(let me know who I've missed & I'll add them here)

TravellerSandbox

Alesmiter

TardisCaptain

GreenSage

The Other Side

Barking Alien

Of Spaceships and Volume

As I back every one of Ryan Wolf's Kickstarters (I did not do the first, but his second, was the Grendel, which is really the classic Beowulf. And so started one of my few auto-backs! And I did go back & get the 1st one as well I believe) I have quite the stash of starship posters, PDFs and minis. For the longest time I was guessing at the tonnage based on squares. Never a good thing, and it turns out I was usually way off. 

As he supplies the standard tonnage, it is actually a pretty simple calculation to go from his displacement to Traveller displacement tonnage.

First, 1 ton is 100 cubic feet. This is 2.831685 cubic meters, and when dividing by 13.5, gives you .2098 Traveller tons per 1 "standard" ton. So simply multiply his tonnage by .2098 and you get Traveller displacement.

dTons = 0.2098 x tonnage

So looking back at the Cygnus from a few games back, I have to adjust everything as the tonnage went from 1000 tons to 1800 tons. That affects the base cost as well as the monthly costs. I'm going to see if I can still manage to get through Classic High Guard (though it does not have an 1800 ton ship, 2000 is what I'll work the components on), Mongoose 2e High Guard (which I bought and briefly read over but have never deigned a ship with) , Cepheus and T5 which will require quite a bit of page flipping. Though there is this T5 ship builder spreadsheet over on COTI if I can figure that out. Though I really prefer going through the actual printed books.

And the general information based on all versions is this is a TL 13 Lab Ship with jump 3 and maneuver 3 and 8 weeks worth of power plant fuel. With fuel scoops and a fuel purifier this ship can last months without having to be at a port to purchase fuel. At that point, each version has its own layer of things, from various armors to specifically having med and science labs. The hull is probably a close structure which is partially streamlined. 

And after walking through the Mongoose version. I think I'll do the Cepheus and T5 in their own post as well. Cepheus I think is more LBB 2 style, but could be wrong. And I am not entirely sure I have those rules: I did a bunch of PDFs in a bundle and I know the core rules are there as I've used them to play with character generation, but do not recall if ship building rules are part of that.

Classic High Guard

Probably not perfect but good enough for gaming. Minor updates to the tonnage for fuel and all that. The classic High Guard does not really give a lot of options for things like labs and medical bays, but it was for running ship battles more than role playing. I just like making custom ships!

This graphic was done, by the way, via Google Draw. A few tables getting formatted just so. Tried to recreate one of the many classic ship forms. If anyone asks, I could make a blank drawing that I could share so you could fill in the blanks yourself. That was one thing Classic really had going for it: lots of forms. While not for everyone, I really like them and use them often as handouts and chrome while playing. Old school paper!

T5

Using the T5 spreadsheet these are the initial results. What is missing is the armor info which I added in the 2nd paragraph coming from the spreadsheet.
Using a 1800 Dton streamlined hull, it has a J Drive N2, a M Drive C9, and a P Plant N2 giving performance of jump-3 and 3 g acceleration. There is fuel tankage of 583.2 Dton, enough for 8 weeks and 1 jump-3.
Controls consists of eleven control consoles, nine operating consoles, and a m/3 computer with Ergonomics 2.
There are seven sensors: a communicator, a commplus, two EMSs, a scope, a neutrino sensor, and a grav sensor.
Crew accomodations consists of 4 staterooms with a Comfort of 4 and two crew barracks.
There is a carried craft: a Shuttle in a hangar.
Cargo capacity is 722 Dton. The ship requires a crew of 14: a pilot, an astrogator, an engineer, a maintenance, five specialists, and a flight crew. The ship costs MCr 446.65.

Using a charged frame, we have an armor value of 52. Coated with reflec we have 1300 vs Heat/Beam. The outer armor is an anti-radiation layer (AV 26, 260 vs bast, 260 vs H/B, 1300 vs Rad, 0 vs EMP) and we have another anti-EMP layer of armor (AV 26, 260 vs Blast, 260 vs H/B, 0 vs rad and 130 vs EMP). This ship is designed to get up close to potentially hazardous areas. 

Now I may go back through this by the book just to see just how complicated the T5 rules are. There were several discussions as I recall over on COTI (my main source of Traveller outside of the few blogs I do read). T5 uses fill-forms to help. And I want to say there is an iOS ship builder out there. I'll devote another post to the book, step by step, creation of the Cygnus class lab ship.

Mongoose 2e

Having yet another spreadsheet, we get something as below. This spreadsheet does not generate a nice blurb. And I think I broke it, so a quick walkthrough of the 2nd edition High Guard Book.

First, the hull. A close structure hull displacing 1800 tons gives us +10% hull points and a -10% cost. So Cr50K/ton = MCr90 but with our 10% discount, MCr81. Armor is always good as this ship will be exploring strange new worlds. Using the standard Crystaliron armor available at TL 10 it requires 1.25% of our ship or 13.6 tons and costs MCr4.05/armor point. Lets put 2 armor points on there for 27.2 tons and MCr8.1 added to our costs. There are some additional hull options available. The emissions absorption Grid sort of sucks in electronic emissions, and stacks with stealth (and we won't get into the whole giant heat source is sort of hard to hide in space discussion). While not directly something a lab ship needs and interesting, I think we'll pass on that. Heat shielding, on the other hand, would allow us to get the ship closer to stars and other hot phenomena. It also helps us crash land safer if our grav drives go out. Cost is 0.1MCr per ship so MCr180 to add our heat shield. Same for radiation shielding. At MCr.25/ton this is MCr450. This is pretty expensive! The remaining options, stealth, improved stealth and reflect do not seem to apply to our ship mission.

Next, our drives. We want Man3 which will take 3% of our hull or 54dTons and cost MCr104. Our Jump 3 drive takes 7.5% of our ship or 135dTons and costs us MCr202.5. Using a TL12 fusion power plant we will need to have at least the following power points:

• basic ship functioning 20% of tonnage: 360
• maneuver drive is 10%: 180
• jump is 10%: 180

As it is unlikely we'll be using the jump and maneuver drives, that gives us a minimum of 540 energy points. At TL12 we get 15 points per ton, so a 36 ton power plant would cover that. As I want extra for the various sensors and bays (and not sure if they technically take energy points) I'll just round to 40dTons for the power plant at a cost of MCr40. 

The drives of course need fuel. Manuever drive fuel is part of the power plant fuel, so nothing there. Jump is still the classic 10% per jump, so 30% is needed. Power plants need 10% per size for 4 weeks, and as I want 8 weeks that would be 4 tons for 4 weeks and 8 for 8 weeks for a total of 548dTons for fuel. 

Our bridge based on its size requires 40dTons at a cost of MCr20. 

We need a computer for all this, and being a lab ship, it probably has more that are specific to the labs. But our central computer is a TL 13 Computer/25 at a cost of MCr10. It takes no direct tonnage. There are options for a hardened core or one that specializes in jump to coordinate fleet jumps. Neither is required for our lab ship. 

Sensors are next on the list, and this is where our shopping trip may get even more expensive! We'll go whole hog and get the Advanced. Though this is a TL 15 sensor suite, the original story behind the ship is that it is a Navy/Scout joint operation and the Navy runs at TL15 as much as possible. It also requires 6 energy points, which as I bumped up means we can run the full suite while maneuvering about and still have the full ship functions. MCr5.3 and includes densomiter, jammers, Lidar, NAS (Neural Activity Sensors - I've got Grand Census and the portable version is described in there) and radar.

No weapons though we have 2 50 ton bays and several hard points. This is a decommissioned ship released for private use via some high-standing political influence and has no weapons. 

Optional systems. Though not sure how crew is optional! At a minimum, we'll need a pilot, an astrogator, 3 engineers (I like to "over-engineer" and one may be for the shuttle as well). a medic. There are also specialists as this is a lab ship. Our minimal crew is 6 with room for several specialists depending on the mission. The staterooms are defined by the deck plans, and has 6 big staterooms and two barracks-style that can contain 4 each. Plus what looks to be 2 brig cells but could be repurposed as small staterooms. 

All the rest is cargo. So, let's tally up and see what we have.

Cost: MCr 1,100.4. Just over a billion credits!

Tonnage: 1800 - (armor) 27.2 - (man) 54 - (jump) 135 - (power) 40 - (fuel) 548 - (bridge) 40 = 955. 

Now there are several more options left to add. Being a science ship, we'll add a sensor station for MCr0.5 and 1dTon. There will be a cargo crane x2 (one per side) for about 1dTon and MCr1. We have an advanced drone bay for 1Dton and MCr 0.8. Throw in the advanced signal processing that also takes 2 energy points, MCr8 and 2Dtons. Our very Star Trek like Life Scanner Analysis Suite requires 1 EP and takes 1dTon and MCr4. Technically the TL14 version is not available but refer back to the Navy/Scout program above.  The hanger is technically a full hanger so takes 60dTons and costs MCr12, We have 3 labs on board at about 15dTons each by counting the squares, so total of 45dTons and MCr12, The med bay is part of the biology lab. There is also a gym that looks to be about 15dTon but that cost will be minimal. There is actually another 30dTons for common areas at least

So the new tally:

MCr 1,100.4 + MCR40.3 = MCr1,140.7

Remaining displacement = 955 - 154 = 801dTons. Which still seems way too high - looking at the cargo bay areas, we have 7x9 squares so about 30 tons, plus an upper area. We'll just make those 6 meter ceilings and double height, plus there is more cargo area on the platform above. And the shuttle bay is definitely taller than your 3m ceiling. 

Probably more storage areas throughout the ship but this is close enough for us.

Next post or two, I'll see if I can muddle through the T5 process and see if I even have the Cepheus version.