Kayleb's Gear.

Currently in the process of gearing up Kayleb. There was talk in the meta about the company purchasing a suit of Battledress for him to use. I've been taking a look at the different versions of Battledress and If battledress is still on the table I'm figuring that the best kit to buy would be the Logistics model. 

• It's cheap. Cheapest on the list by far. Even if you spend the extra 1.5MCR upgrading it to TL 14 it's still cheaper than most of the other models at their TL 13 level. 
• It's almost the "non-combat" version of Battledress. It would basically double as an aid for cargo handling. Maybe handy as a subtle way of getting battledress around in a starport without drawing too much attention. Could even paint it yellow and put a flashing light on top and call it a cargo lifter. It'd also help Kayleb do his heavy lifting dogs body duties around the ship. 
• +6 STR is sweet. Kayleb could actually carry his arsenal without having to convert one of the gunnery robots into a personal caddie. 

If the company is tight on funds because it's stealthing up the Ares then maybe instead of Battledress we could look at making the cutters more survivable. Adding sand casters and maybe some Gatling Point Defense Lasers (p90 CSC) using them would be less suicidal. According to the High Guard supplement a 50T smallcraft can have up to two ship scale weapons and up to 5 personal scale weapons. Anything that improves the survivability of the cutters would be great. 

We’re looking into a Cutter Module with pintle-mounts and such. For the most part, being escorted by two bad-ass Grav Bikes should be sufficient for most cases. Wypoc’s armor-withering atmosphere, however, is a different story. We’re probably going to have to replace the ATV with a suitable G-Carrier, since even Military grade Grav Bikes would have a problem; my Imperial Grav Bike is open-cockpit, and my Guard Armor’s skin is bio-engineered... neither one is going to work for this mission. I’ll have to resort to the old Imperial Stealth Armor I bought when I bought the Grav Bike.

Sand-casters seem like the sort of thing that would work pitifully in an atmosphere. Also, Wypoc might just eat up the sand before it even matters.

Maybe the solution to your weaponry problems in general is to build a weapons rack into the Darrian Grav Bike, and just use the Auto-pilot to have it follow you around like a dog.

Yellow with flashing lights doesn’t make for a stealthy back-up on my recon jobs... ^_^;

I suspect that “Short on company funds” is a bit of an oxymoron for us...

I was mainly thinking generally, for Kayleb's career beyond Wypoc. 

But on the subject of Wypo Kayleb's contribution to the plan would be to let wypocs atmosphere do the fighting for us. There could always be the possibility that the target is "chain sniping" and setting things up to trigger another nuke to eliminate anyone on their tail. So Kayleb would suggest doing it Marine style... 

• Scouty folks sneak up on foot and designate the targets from a safe distance. Support gunners and snipers, as well as close up folks, waiting in the wings each with a G-carrier handy. 
• Breach the targets protection with an orbital laser or missile strike. 
• While the target is struggling against the corrosive atmosphere, blitz them with sniper and heavy weapons fire. 
• Folks move in via G-carrier (picking up scouty folks on the way) to mop up/confirm kills.  

We'd want to keep our distance for most of the game to avoid being nuked. 

Either that or we consider purchasing Nuclear Damper modules and putting one in each of the cutters. That way we can just fly up and blitz it in one hit without having to worry about the potential of pocket nuke chain sniping.

They’ve got some big dome/underground facility; they’ve spent years here fully entrenched, and are thus, perfectly equipped to deal with everything; as such, the weather is more in their favor than ours.

There’s also going to have to be some element of allowing the otherwise trapped “I just work here” mooks to evacuate before we blow the whole thing to kingdom-come.

Err ... yeah ... I guess the collateral damage created by K's plan would make it a bad idea. I doubt the guy we're after would care much about collateral damage seeing that they have already set off a nuke though. So I still think that assuming that they could "chain snipe" us with another nuke is a fair assumption.

Nuclear Dampers (TL13) A common term used to describe safety devices built against nuclear weaponry, dampers units are actually used to decrease the stability of atomic nuclei. By projecting a localised field from two separate stations (one master and one slaved), a wide area of altered isotopic energy is produced – seeking out the unstable nuclei of weapons-grade materials. In the area of the fields, the strong nuclear force is depressed, making the nucleus much less stable. The fields are primarily designed to be focused on incoming nuclear warheads, causing them to rapidly shed neutrons at low energy levels, rendering the warhead inoperable as its core material disintegrates on an atomic level. Any nuclear devices that are not currently already in a state of fusion (fusion cells, starship cores, etc.) will have a penalty of the Effect of the damper operator’s Computer skill throw to any attacks made. The range of the damper field is proportional to the distance separating the two stations. At tech level 13, the ratio is 100:1 (a separation of 50 metres between stations would give a field range of 5 kilometres). Each damper station weighs 75 kg, and the maximum distance the stations can be apart before the field disperses is 200 metres. Availability 11+, cost MCr. 5  (p98 Book 1 Mercenary)

It's a lot f money, but it would effectively create a nuke free zone for us to work in. We could each module on a cutter or on a pair of ATVs or G-Carriers. Would k-boom proof us. And after this it could also protect the Ares from nuclear attacks in space (maybe? Not sure what the spaceship equivalent would be of this ground version of a nuclear damper.) 

To reiterate and acknowledge:


Kayleb's Battledress, purchased by the Artemis Group through Sebastien's Contact/Ally in Ling Standard Products (a megacorporation), is the version found in the Mongoose Traveller Main Rulebook.  It can can have any Armour Options available to the Main Rulebook plus any Options available in the Central Supply Catalogue that Artemis wishes to tack on.  It cannot yet have any Vargr-specific Options until Artemis arrives at a world that has a majority population of Vargr who can supply such race-specific Options.  The Battledress is Imperium-make for its Imperium-Vargr members in the military and cannot be used by Humans without some extensive Mechanics, Electronics and Computer rolls to adjust for anatomy, movement and vocal commands which can come in Galanglic or Vargr (Gvegh or Aekhu locally).

If it's on the menu, is there any chance that the Battledress being purchased for Kayeb be the Logistics Model described on p146 & p150 of the CSC rather than the basic model? It's 250,000cr cheaper than the basic model and suits Kayleb's needs better than the basic.  The TL 14 version of that would be sweet. 

Confirmed.  Logistics Battledress TL13 is available, especially through Ling Standard Products.  I do not see a Logistics Battledress TL14 in that book, unless you want to combine the Main Rulebook's version with Logistics Battledress in a hybrid version.  That might be something Kayleb has to tinker on his own time if there isn't a precedent in a rulebook anywhere.  Might be a worthy project to be sure, requiring a build-up of Effect numbers from Mechanics, Electronics and Computers skill checks.

In the CSC (p150) TL 14 is listed as an upgrade rather than a different kind of armour.. although it is actually a different suit of armour. Pretty sure you can't upgrade your TL 13 to a TL 14. Or maybe you can? Swap out removable places for lighter, tougher plates and such?

The cost is increased by 1.5Mcr. It gives +2 protection and reduces weight by 10%.

Personally, I'm fine with you taking the Logistics version, and Jacob would insist upon the Advanced version with Grav-assist. 

I figured he could wear a grav belt on the outside just like any other kind of gear. Same with most of the other nick-nacks that usually come included. Magnetic souls would probably be a good idea too. Not sure if regular "reactive" grav gear works in zero g. 
Someone mentioned that there were two TL12 Writs Mounted TAC missile launchers laying around somewhere? I wouldn't mind toting both of those if nobody else is using them. I've already added them to my character sheet but it just dawned on me that I should double check first. 

Well, at this point, we don't know if we still have any of that stuff, or if it's so much slag melted in the remains of the cargo bays or debris floating out in the black...

Yeah fair point. 

I would hazard a guess that the vanilla grav-belt is unsuitable for the additional heft of Battle Dress, but I hardly have the player experience to be sure. The extra-puny weight of Runt does add a favorable variable, of course.

GUNZ

Laser Pistol (TL11) Imperial Navy issue sidearm common among Marine support personnel. Kayleb received it as parting gift from the Marine Corps, along with permits and registration. This weapon has been fully pimped out with a high band IR laser sight and scope, Holographic sights, Bio-Mass Sighting Aid, and an Intelligent Weapon-0 running expert Gun Combat (laser pistol) 1. All of this is linked to Kayleb's LL/IR HUD and provides a bonus of +4 and short, close and Medium ranges, and a +3 in other bands (unless the to hit penalty is more than -2). Ignores 2 points of cover and receives an additional +1 when aiming. While the laser scopes and sights are set to IR and are invisible to most, Kayleb will sometimes set them to project a visible light specifically to create an intimidating light show. Kayleb usually carries this weapon in a shoulder holster under his left arm. The weapon's power pack and HUD is connected to the weapon through a palm socket. 

Gauss Pistols. Kayleb carries a pair of gauss pistols in a holster strapped to each thigh. One is an imperial Navy issue side arm that he picked up on D'Ganzio. The other he issued to himself from the ships locker. The handle of each pistol is at the height of a hand hanging by his side. These are Kayleb's go to when he needs to quick draw. The plan is to empty these weapons in the general direction of the enemy as he dashes for cover to draw a more effective weapon. Each is equipped with a laser sight (+1 and short and close range) and is connected to Kayleb's HUD giving the weapons a +3 at short and close range, and +2 at all other ranges. 

Sawn Off Double Barreled Shotguns. In stark contrast to Charoux’s sleek, high-tech gagetry, Kayleb has used a hacksaw to shorten these low tech double barreled sporting shotguns to a size that is just over what most law codes would consider a "concealable weapon". Each looks a little like a four barreled weapon. The lower two "barrels" are simple cylinders however. One is a laser sight (+1 at short and close) and the other is a recoil compensator. Each is held in place with screws, gaf tape and liquid nails. He usually carries them on his back so they can be drawn over each shoulder (Alice in Res. Evil) but sometimes he has them in holsters on either thigh. While he carries HEAP for each of them, they are usually loaded with standard buck shot. These are mainly for "close work" or for when he is attempting to intimidate. They are also his go to when on a higher law level world that outlaws most high tech military style weapons. These weapons are also a connection to Kayleb's pre-stellar days where similar weapons were used to protect against poisonous desert predators. 

RAM launcher.  Kayleb's primary weapon when going into the shit. He usually has it loaded with smoke and fragmentation grenades. He also carries a load of HEAP grenades and an assortment of other grenade types depending on the mission. The weapon is fitted with Holographic sights, Laser scope (+1 when aiming), Recoil compensator, bipod, and Intelligent Weapon-0 running expert Heavy Weapon (launcher)1. All of this is connected to Kayleb's Hud by a fiber-optic cable. 

Hand Flamer Kayleb recently picked this up on Flamarian. Sometimes you just need to set stuff on fire. About the size of an extremely heavy pistol, Kayleb carries this in a shoulder holster under his right arm. No sites or HUD connections have been added to this weapon. Runt occasionally uses the pilot light of the hand flamer to light a cigarette. A box of cigarettes is usually strapped to his shoulder armour pauldron with a strip of black gaf tape. 

Cutlass. Imperial Marine issue. Crystaliron blade is great for opening crates of contraban or vacc suits. Sometimes hangs by his side. Technically a "ceremonial weapon" and usually allowable in most situations where law restricts more effective weapons. 

Blade. "Pft .. that's not a knife. This is a knife!"

Svaerdblitzen Heavy Pistol. Picked up a pair of these from the ship's locker. Kayleb usually has a pair of these stupidly heavy pistols on belt holsters behind his back (Nick Cage Face Off) No scopes or compensators are attached to these weapons. Kayleb has a sick fantasy about performing a coup de grace on some poor Swordworld bastard with them. This is mainly because of the .50 cal rounds that had to be surgically removed from his body after the Swordworld strike on Lanth during the 5th. 

Boomerang. Sometimes carried in a "holster" on his back between his two shotties. "Don't listen when people say 'Contrary to popular misconception, hunting boomerangs are not designed to return to the thrower.' - that's pure krok shite. You've just gotta chuck it right!". Kayleb hopes to make a boomerang grenade some day ... when he could be bothered. If he ever does get around to putting something like that together he would definitely make it more in line with the "popular misconception" and not design it to return to the thrower. 

Wrist-mounted Warhead Launcher (not sure if these survived the entrance into the Bowman system) Kayleb was planning to strap one onto each wrist gauntlet of the new suit of battledress. Dual wield wrist rockets! Ultimate bad ass! Would never need to fire them. Just looks cool. 

The Aslan do make explosive boomerangs.  Kitties 1, doggies 0.

May have to make mine TDX or something? Or maybe Pocket Nuke Boomerang? Can't be outdone by the Kitties! Need to put more "Boom" into my boomerang!

*Larzamonte Charoux clears his throat*

“Monofilament Boomerang; contracts to monofilament cutting edge on command (usually a clenched fist), then re-expands to continue safely circling back to the owner. Suggested it to a colleague once; he loves it.”

Supposedly Copyright Tad Wellington’s Totally Badass Ideas That He’ll Never Get Around To Because He’s Too Busy Partying His Ass Off Enterprises Incorporated LLC

While I’ll agree that a regular hunting boomerang that doesn’t hit a target reasonably could come back to the owner, catching it would almost certainly be a minor action, meaning you’d be stuck in place having thrown it, if you want it back immediately. Better to plan to ground it somewhere convenient.

Having hit the target, there should arguably be some sort of roll for whether it stops dead in the target, deflects off on some random trajectory, or manages to make its way back to the owner; GURPS rules it that it stops dead if it hit.

The advantage of a sci-fi cutting boomerang is that the drag of a direct hit is arguably nil, so it can come right back, no problem.

Tenacious Techhunter said:

...
The advantage of a sci-fi cutting boomerang is that the drag of a direct hit is arguably nil, so it can come right back, no problem.

... and then slice all of your fingers off as you try to catch it. 

Yeah I'd say a boomerang would either plonk itself down in the square of any target it hit. The boomerang is just for giggles mainly. I don't see it being used all that often. 

That would be where the “re-expands” part would come in. Also, a monowire blade that doesn’t re-expand would have no lift.

I really love the idea of a TDX charge being on the boomerang. Or maybe a smoke discharger?

((The Boomerang grenade proposed for use by Australian troops during WW1. They actually tested these things out in Victoria. The lads weren't too impressed with it and it never really caught on. This is the only remaining grenade boomerang from that batch. You can see it in the Infantry Museum in Singleton NSW Australia. ))

Oh; well, giving new life to history is a different kettle of fish altogether than simply making an effective weapon. :)

Tenacious Techhunter said:

Oh; well, giving new life to history is a different kettle of fish altogether than simply making an effective weapon. :)

Yeah. Boomerang was never really going to be an "effective weapon" for Runt though. More like a desperate go to if he ever ran out of ammo. Even if he was actually good at throwing it (which he isn't) I've always questioned the "effectiveness" of a weapon that you throw away and hope for it's return so that you can keep fighting. Pretty sure guns would always be more effective when it comes to ranged combat. Seems silly spending a fortune on a monobladed high tech 'rang when I could buy a guided missile instead. 

If I could use a boomerrang to get a bit more range out of a regular thrown grenade or explosive then it'd be great. Game stat-wise though a 'rang doesn't have a greater range than a thrown grenade. So it's really just for laughs at this point. 
Silly Bat-a-rang
Mad Max 2

Just noticed that the CSC already has a kind of "mono-rang" called a Hurling Monoblade:

"Monoblade, Hurling (TL 12):A polymer throwing blade or disc that is honed to a monomolecular edge by its storage case, this weapon shears through enemy armour with ease but loses its edge very quickly. If a successful attack with a hurling monoblade does not infl ict damage upon a target (because of its armour rating), the blade has cracked and lost its edge and cannot be used until placed back in its storage case for at least one hour." 
(p48 CSC)

This badboy does 2d6+5 damage - which is a fair step up from the 1d6 a boomerang normally does. Even though it says that it "shears through enemy armour with ease" I think that's mainly because of the amount of damage it does. I didn't see anything about it having SAP or AP. 

If we were going to get techy with this maybe we could make one with a matching "catcher's glove". The monoblade property would be activated after it leaves the the glove and when it is about to be caught by it. Maybe with a switch that can deactivate this so that you can use it as a melee weapon. Could even put a gyroscope in it and give it Intelligent Weapon interface so that it can maneouver and come back to the thrower?

I would vote “activates on a closed fist” as I suggested before, so you don’t hit innocent bystanders badly. That is more or less what I was suggesting, in a more game-ready form. :)

WRIST MOUNTED TAC MISSILES

From the CSC p 109:

"Rockets: are unguided weapons. They may be used in direct fi re (such as from aircraft) or more commonly as an indirect-fi re artillery system. They are inaccurate but can carry a large warhead for their size.

Missiles: are essentially guided rockets"

This being the case, I'd love to nut out how these things work, and how we can work together to make a "forward observer" role work for them. I'm thinking about Charoux or someone else being able to tag a target up ahead and being able to launch these missiles from a distance. I didn't want to houserule the hell out of it though. I think it's a great idea to stay as close to the rules as written as possible. That way we're all on the same page.

From CSCp27

"Guided Weapons in Indirect Fire Mode If terminally guided weapons are in use, then they can guide themselves onto the target once they reach the general area. Weapons of this type include self-guided artillery shells and missiles and weapons which can home in on a designator used by someone who can see the target. Roll to hit as normal. Success indicates the weapon has reached the target area. If it is a self-homing (‘smart’) weapon then roll 2d6. On 8+ the weapon scores a direct hit unless it is defeated by pointdefence. If the weapon is being guided onto the target by someone using a designator of ‘flying’ the weapon from a remote station, the operator makes a skill roll. If successful, the weapon scores a direct hit. A guided weapon failing at the terminal guidance phase rolls for eff ects as normal. It may still score a direct hit by a fluke. "

It doesn't specifically say so, but I'm pretty sure the "roll to hit as normal. success indicates the weapon has reached the target area" is bringing in the space combat idea where the gunner makes a skill roll which provides a bonus or penalty to the missiles 8+ "to hit" roll when it reaches the target. This is backed up by the last two sentences where is says the missile can still score a fluke hit even if it is launched poorly.  

So lets just say Charoux is walking down the street sneakily designating targets with his groovy spy glasses. He tags a target and calls in a missile strike. The gunner launches the missile and makes a skill roll to determine how well the missile enters into the "target area". Based on the gunners effect, the missile makes her own "to hit" roll.

From page 149 Core Rule Book:

Effect -6 or worse	11+	Effect 0	8+
Effect -5 to -2	10+	Effect 1-5	7+
Effect -1	9+	Effect 6+	6+

If the missile is being remotely guided or is homing in on active designation (like reflected laser light or radar signal) then the operator or forward observer would make a skill check instead. This is where the rules get a bit fuzzy. I think the missile "to hit" roles above are mostly based on the "Aiding Another Character" concept on p 50-51 of the Core Rulebook. So I think It stands to reason that the skill check of the characater guiding in the rocket could be given a bonus based on the effect of the gunner launching the missile. 


From CSC P 112

Fitting a command-guidance system to a weapon multiplies the cost by 5. This is available from TL 6 onwards.
Fitting a smart (self) guidance system to a weapon multiplies the cost by 10. This is possible from TL 8 onwards.
At TL 10 ‘brilliant’ guidance systems can replace ‘smart’, granting a +2 DM to hit. Cost is x15 instead of x10.
At TL 12 ‘genius’ guidance systems can replace ‘smart’ ones, granting a +4 DM to hit. Cost is x20 rather than x10."

Mainly for reference. 

Las Pistol. 

• HUD [+2]
• Laser sight/Holo sight [+1] only at Close, Short or Medium range.
• Intelligent Weapon [+1] negated if -2 DM or greater. 

So on a good day, +4 not including modifiers for DEX or skill. 

• Laser Sight [+2] After one minor action aiming. +1 per additional minor action. 
• Tagger [+2] If a minor action is taken after hitting a target. Could this be given to others who also use a tagger?

Gauss Pistols

• HUD [+2]
• Laser sight/Holo sight [+1] only at Close or Short
• Dual Wield [-2]

So usually just a +1 when dual wielding gauss pistols, not including mods from Dex or Skill. 


Sawn Off Shotguns. 

• HUD [+2]
• Laser sight/Holo sight [+1] only at Close or Short
• Close range [+4] Only if within two map squares. 
• Dual Wielding [-2]

So +5 when attacking targets two squares away. Usually dual wielded either together or with a more effective weapon. Pretty sure the +4 at close range is only for buck shot or flechette shells. Probably wouldn't apply when using "solid" shells like HEAP.  

I keep forgetting ... we have a PGMP-14. 

It's currently attached to the Darrian grav bike, but maybe we could use some mechanical cleverness to remove it and make it modular. So today it's a pintle mount on the back of the airraft, tomorrow it's being used by a door gunner on the modular cutter. And on Wednesday it could be attached to one of these things: 

Gyro-Stabilizer Rig (TL 12): This upgrade can be added to Combat Armour or Battle Dress only, adding a localized motion-pivot at the waist which counters the effects of recoil at the cost of Cr. 10,000. By spending 1d6 minutes attaching the rig’s arm to a heavy weapon or rifle, it reduces the weapon’s recoil number by 2 (to a minimum of 0).

I'm guessing that a weapon mounted on a vehicle isn't made to be used in any other way, but i'm sure that in between our characters we could summon enough cleverness to make this work. It just seems like a big waste to be leaving that firepower in the garage every time we go out. 

Making it detachable would probably be problematic to the bike’s aerodynamics. If you want one that bad, we’ll buy you one. XD

It's not that I want one. Its more that I feel it was gathering dust. I wasn't sure if the plasma gun on the bike was an "external" mount that could easily be removed or if it was an internal component. If it's external than removing it would actually improve the aerodynamics. 

I'm not actually itching to carry a plasma gun around though. I think I'd be "lightly encumbered" if I did even in b'dress. But there may be situations where the "PiGgy Momma" cold be the tool for the job. In those situations it may be cool for it not to be attached to a bike. 

EDIT: Or maybe ... if we were thinking about taking the PG out to make it modular, we could replace it with something that is easier for the rider to use like a support laser or something?

I can’t really imagine any way to make it portable without having to take half the front fairing with it, which would probably get really awkward to carry.

I just figured most weapons mounted on a vehicle wound need to be removable so that they could be cleaned and maintained. 
I guess what makes this issue tricky is that he vehicle stats don't say if the weapon is Internal or External. That would make a big difference I think. 
How about we just leave it. Seems like too much trouble now that I think about it. 

Some company heavy weapon woulds be good though. Weapons that we could pintle mount onto the air/raft or to serve as a door gun for the modular cutter. And we also have a G/carrier right? Does that already have a weapon mounted? For Kayleb either a plasma gun of some kind or a support RAM launcher would be best. Also thinking that some kind of support laser would be good for folks with Gun Combat (laser rifle) skills. VRF Gauss Rifle is also a fun weapon. That one uses the Gun Combat (slug rifle) skill so it's usable by folks without the Heavy Weapon skill. 

Given how streamlined the thing is supposed to be, I would assume it’s internally mounted; fair point about it not saying, though.

Pakkrat consistently confuses the ATV with a G-Carrier; I believe we do not have a G-Carrier, which we will require for the Wypoc mission; the terrain is both too rough for wheeled vehicles and too acidic for tires.

IRL there is a kind of rubber called Karlez(?). It can resist pretty much every kind of acid. I would imagine that an ATV designed to run in hostile environments would have wheels designed to take all kinds of damage. The ATV can even run in a Vacuum, so I doubt these tires are your regular kind of tire that you'd see on a city bus. Maybe they're not made from inflated "rubber" at all but a kind of honeycome of flexible, acid proof silicone? 

Just say'n, if I was manufacturing "space trucks" designed to haul folks across hostile off road environments I wouldn't be giving it regular city tires. Getting a flat out in the wild could mean death after all. 

If that "All" in "All Terrain Vehicle" doesn't actually mean "All" then we should take it back to the dealer and get our credits back!

There's a really great write up in the intro of the D20 version of Traveller that show how much fun ATVs can be. A G-Carrier is definately the better tool for the job for us though. Crawling up in an ATV is hardly going to create the sudden strike that we need. 

Alby, can you get me deck plan dimensions for the following?

1. Typical Air Raft (which we have; technically 2...)
2. Typical G-Carrier (which we’ll have eventually)
3. The 3m^3 Imperial Grav Bike
4. The 10m^3 Darrian Grav Bike

These should be the dimensions that include room for basic maintenance; get the raw dimensions if you can too, though.

I’ve finally found a nice SVG editor to make some Cutter Modules with.

Ugh ... I duno. I guess if you base it on tonnage, and assume that the vehicles are about 3m tall (?) each ton takes up two squares on a regular 1square = 1.5 m deck plan. 

1t of liquid hydrogen is 14129.786 lts, or about 14.m^3.
1.5m x 3m x 3.1m = 14m^3 (ish)

So ... absolute basic for the air/raft would be 3m wide by 6m long. (2 squares by 4 squares)
I think G-Carriers are 8tons? So that'd be about 4.5m wide by 8m long. (3 squares by 5.5 squares)

I'm really pulling these figures out of the air though. 

I did sit down and figure out that darrian speeder bike. A 10m^3 enclosed bike could be about 4.5m long by 1.5 high by 1.5 wide. So 3 squares long by one wide and one high on a regular deckplan map. 

Imperial bike could be 3m x 1m x 1m. So 2 squares long and a bit over half a square wide (0.6). 

If you wanted to be economical on space, you could store one bike on top of the other. Have them mounted on racks on the walls or something. Technically together they displace about 1ton. 

If you're making modular cutter modules it may be good to keep in mind that they're a tube and not a square. The deckplan of the modular cutters on p 143 of the core rule book is too wide in my opinion. Its 5 squares wide on their map. The regular 2 squares =1 ton idea they're following means it's technically right as far as the number go, but you end up with a module that's 7.5m wide and 3m high. So it's not really a cylinder any more. Other deck plans have a module that's 4 squares wide and ten squares long. If that were a rectangle 6mx6mx15m you get about 38 tons. Shave a bit off to make it a tube instead of a rectangle and we're closer to what it'd actually be. 

(I think the modular cuttter in this plan is the right size)

Unfortunately, there’s some pain-in-the-ass difference between the volume a vehicle actually occupies and the additional volume required to do meaningful repair work on it; which is sort of what I’m going for here. I was hoping some older reference you might have been familiar with by coincidence might have had that sort of information, but I guess not.

I’m currently estimating the actual dimensions of the Imperial Grav Bike as 1m wide x 1.5m high x 2m long, and the Darrian Grav Bike as 2m wide x 2m high x 2.5m long; I figure it’s higher and wider on account of the closed cockpit. But the additional space required in order to perform work on these things is still up in the air, which is what I need for the modules.

Here’s the thing about circular vs. rectangular... With rectangular construction, you get 4 inches high by 4 inches wide by 7.5 inches long. With circular construction, you get about 3 inches high by 3 inches wide by 7.5 inches long in whole cubic inches; the rest, at about 44%, is nearly half the unit’s volume. Going up to wider and shorter, you could have 4 inches high by 4 inches wide by about 6 inches long, wasting more like 36%. But, frankly, circular construction is stupid; it’s just chasing after a “rocket aesthetic” without any of the technical justification for it.

I look at Modular Cutter Modules as the Imperium version of Cargo Containers... Boxy, space-efficient shipping modules. Attach them to the outside of freighters for hauling cargo, use them to organize smaller freight items all headed to one destination, and so on; flat on the bottom so they stay upright when you drop it to the ground during a hasty delivery. The Cutter may have a rounded nose, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t go square at some point; frankly, it’s a pointless waste of space if it doesn’t, as the aerodynamic savings simply aren’t that great for something that isn’t dependent on chemical rocket fuel. So I figure they’re about 4 inches by 4 inches by 7.5 inches, 2 decks high, and the only wasted space is due to hull needs and tolerance issues with fitting in the Cutter.

Tenacious Techhunter said:

I look at Modular Cutter Modules as the Imperium version of Cargo Containers... Boxy, space-efficient shipping modules. Attach them to the outside of freighters for hauling cargo, use them to organize smaller freight items all headed to one destination, and so on; flat on the bottom so they stay upright when you drop it to the ground during a hasty delivery. The Cutter may have a rounded nose, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t go square at some point; frankly, it’s a pointless waste of space if it doesn’t, as the aerodynamic savings simply aren’t that great for something that isn’t dependent on chemical rocket fuel. So I figure they’re about 4 inches by 4 inches by 7.5 inches, 2 decks high, and the only wasted space is due to hull needs and tolerance issues with fitting in the Cutter.

Something I pitched to our PnP group was that whenever they were on the outskirts of a large starport they would encounter "container cities" consisting of large piles of modular cutter containers. I always figured that modular cutters weren't the only thing that could haul cutter modules. I had special trucks and cranes moving them about too. As well as special grav vehicles that could take them from city to city. 

And you're totally right about the shape. Square would always be better when you need to stack them and such. Looks like someone agrees with you:


I just assume that there modules come in different shapes and sizes, with the couplings being universal so any cutter can pick up any module. Maybe round could sort of make sense if they needed to be rolled around in a cutter well or something? I'm not huge on the things being round, only that the height almost match the width so that they lot similar to their illustration. 


Pretty sure Traveller's Modular Cutter concept was inspired by the Eagle space craft from Space 1999. Not posting this pic for any reason other than the eagle being one of my all time favorite spaceships. 

Modules built to be modular should be some kind of tessellation of space, whether that space is divided into rhombic dodecahedrons, truncated icosahedrons, hexagonal prisms, or some sort of stretched cubes. Stretched cubes are the least alien, followed by hexagonal prisms. It could be argued that the Darrians use hexagonal prisms instead of stretched cubes. Hivers might use the truncated icosahedrons, since they can more easily use the more spherical compartments. Rhombic dodecahedrons, lacking 2 dimensions worth of flat bottom, are a tough sell.

Yeah, as long as they fit together right? And with a stretched cube you'd be wasting less space. 
It's not like tube modules couldn't be stacked though. Just found this pic:

So ... I guess round stuff could be stacked. 

Yeah, but look at all that wasted space.

Yeah I know. 

But still ... look at that aesthetically pleasing roundness! Plus round pegs fit into round holes. 

Could make the holes square I guess?

Agree with you. Boxes are much more practical. 

They fit better into cargo bays too; why wouldn’t they just be the Imperial version of cargo containers, and some are just customized to be mission-specific? Traveller’s pathological addiction to retro-ness just boggles the mind...

Perhaps 50-somethings like Marc Miller cannot let go of the Flash Gordon Era of superscience fiction.

It may be less about the authors and more about the fanboys; I think this shark would be sleeker without all the lampreys sucking all the blood out of it.

It may also be about not wanting to put in the work of actually revitalizing the material; which, admittedly, is a task.

Give opportunity for nerdy folk to use the ship creation rules to make cool stuff.

I made a 300 ton ship a while back that specialised in hauling modular cutter modules. Because it was 300 tons it used 30 tons per parsec jumped - exactly one module worth of fuel. It had a J-3 drive, but no actual fuel tank. It drew it's J fuel directly from the modules. So she could have three fuel modules attached  to make a J-3, or could sacrifice jump range for extra cargo at +30tons per 1 parsec given up. 

It could carry six modules all together. For long range courier jobs it could load all six modules with fuel to do 2xJ-3 jumps. The modules revolved around a central spine to load each module into the cutter. So nick named it "the Revolver". Also made an extended 600ton version that used two fuel modules per parsec to jump. 

I had so much fun making those ships I was actually happy the wasn't a regular "cutter module hauler" in the regular list of ships. IT's nice to be able to make something that fills a believable niche in the ship market. 

Funny how we now have discussions concerning the Modular Cutter modules spread out over three different topics. Mostly my fault.
Just going to point folks HERE if they want to talk about modules for the Modular cutter so that we can focus this one on "Kayleb's Gear"

Just putting this here for later. If he survives the current scrap he may get to work making a bladed or exploding b'rang. 

Akhaeh (Throwing Edge, TL3):  A boomerang-like weapon with
a sharpened edge. Usually carried on a belt sheath, it functions
precisely as a boomerang. A thrown akhaeh which missed the target
returns to the thrower if the Effect is –1 or –2.
TL6: Akheahs have a core of explosive and a proximity trigger that
is disarmed by a radio beacon worn by the user. The weapon only
explodes if it is out of range of the beacon.

I sometimes forget to hit my rolls with a -2 DM for not having the required skill when using battledress, so I'm adding it to all my macros. Kayleb does have Battledress skill, but not enough to avoid the penalty. 

For folks who didn't know, if your suit requires Battledress 1 and you have no skill, all skill rolls are -4 DM. If you have Battledress-0, then you're at -2. This is the main reason I'm RPing Runt getting used to battledress. Hoping to get up to Battledress-1, but it's going to take at least 17 weeks.