Design of the New Ship

The ship design should feature: Orbital Bombardment Capability ( Bay Weapon? Tiny Spinal Mount? Probably just special missiles...)  (Role Moved to the Artemis) Atmospheric Capability, for Close Air Support Some Fixed-Mount weaponry (no associated manned firing position), so our pilot can "pew pew" things dogfight style All turrets remote, rather than manned in place A maxed out Ship's Computer A maxed out "Utility" Computer & maxed out Comms package, for hacking Machine Shop & Electronics Lab Engineering Central gathering space (for briefings, meals, and recreation) Staterooms near respective stations (Pilot near Cockpit, Engineer near Drives & Power, Gunners near Guns, and so on) Life Support System between Engineering & Med Bay Med Bay adjacent to and expandable into Cargo Bay Public Head adjacent to Med Bay, for contagion sampling Med Bay adjacent to Ship's Boat & Air/Raft Docks, for emergency treatments Armory & Equipment Lockers adjacent to Ship's Boat & Air/Raft Docks, for rapid deployment Anything I missed? *added* Extra luxurious Air/Raft and Ship's Boat, for impressing clients (who need to choose to hire us, and should be impressed by our "Armored Limousine" style accommodations) Secure & Armored Stateroom for important guests Screens of some sort A Brig A Client Impressing Office

Most weapon turrets can already be fired from the bridge, but in Traveller, if a Pilot or a Navigator is forced to fire the ship's weapons it means either a reduction in Pilot or a reduction in Navagator, depending on who you are on the bridge. Since Gevaudan is acting as both Pilot and Navigator, his skills in both are reduced by one. The rules stated that he cannot pull off three positions. Turrets have to be manned because of a lack of artificial intelligence and intuition to fire at targets. They cannot be fired 'remote', as you say, as there is not enough room on the bridge to accommodate such. That space is reserved for avionics, comms, defense screen control, diagnostics, and the big navigation/astrogation computer. Each turret has a small, one-man room with acceleration couches in which to fire a turret during high-G, 'dogfight' maneuvers. Ship's locker is usually near the bridge. This was done so as to lower the chance of mutiny. The more area taken up by Machine Shops & Electronics Labs, Lounge ("Central gathering space"), and Public Head, then the less space there is for fuel tankage (drop tanks become expensive and lessen the maneuvering and Jump of the vessel) and cargo (the ship has to be able to pay for itself...merc jobs will not do it alone). Since weapon turrets can be fired from the bridge, fixed-mount style, there is no need for extra specifically for the bridge. The limiting factor is the sophonts (humans and Vargr in our case), who can do only so much per person. Your list is extensive. Kudos for thinking of all this. I am with you all the way on maxing out the Computer to /5 and having decent comm system. More important than those two, have you thought of defensive Screens? Our Artemis 2 does not have them. No shields means we take everything incoming on the armor or point-defense weaponry, and that is a drain on both money and offensive capability. A good first list. Prioritization comes next. GM Notes (Only visible to GM)

You should double-check how dogfighter style fixed-mount weaponry is performed. It might still have a penalty, but it also might not, since it's weaponry the pilot was meant to fire. I would also argue that, so long as the turrets are being pointed dead-ahead, and not being maneuvered, they should be treated as fixed mounted for pull-trigger operation. Finally, Navigation is something you do when you're deciding how to go from point A to point B, I think. If you're more worried about surviving the dogfight, I don't think it's a real issue, unless you're also trying to plot a jump out, or maintain the quickest course between planets. If you aren't interested in exercising your trigger-finger from the cockpit, then yes, the fixed mount guns can be omitted; I just thought they'd be more fun. XD When I said "remotely", I did not mean "from the bridge". What I was getting at is, putting a human being inside a system the enemy is targeting is stupid. Better to put the operator safely in the middle of the ship somewhere! If you can find me a modern warship in which the armory is near the bridge, I will consider conceding the point. I think it's more important to immediately take the weapons out of the hands of the mercs as they come on board, and have them be the last thing they get their hands on as they go out on a mission. Fuel tankage is an important issue, yes. However, having enough room for briefings, and having the means to craft nasty surprises for our enemy and other single mission specials, is important too. Yes, these needs need to be balanced. I'm inclined to think that 3D printers for plastic and metal, and a medium size machining center for lathing and milling will do for mechanical. An electronics fab would probably take up only a desk's worth of space. I specifically have not considered defensive screens because I am not well versed enough in them to have an opinion. Do you have a specific suggestion? :)

A quick note about dTons... For one dTon per square, squares are 2m x 2m x 3.5m. For HALF a dTon per square, squares are 1.5m x 1.5m x 3m. This is easily borne out by actually checking how the volume multiplies out. Traveller has been rather inconsistent about what a square of grid measures to the people that inhabit it. Pretty terrible, really. Also remember that half a meter of the vertical space is used by conduits and ducting of various kinds.

Any Screens is a good thing. Screens can recharge. Armor has to be repaired. Civilian Screens or low-end military Screens, is fine for this nervous Vargr. No Screens is like walking around with breeches down near your ankles, humans.

Jump capability? Number of Jump Drives?

Jump-2 or better with enough fuel for 2+ jumps. Standard fare for non-military / naval vessels.

Do you spend fuel according to jump distance, or do all jumps cost the same?

For the same ship, jumps cost nearly the same fuel. A Referee might modify the flight time in jumpspace to the benefit for really good roll results, but each ship should use the same or about the same fuel for a single jump. A different ship might use another amount, especially if different tonnage. Yet all jumps take roughly a week. Drop tanks cost credits but they do make fore peace-time extra range if the mission or the haul is particularly good payoff. Just my take. Your mileage may vary.

Besides the Air/Raft, how many ground vehicles did you guys want for the ground vehicle bay, and how big? 2 4 dTon vehicles? 1 8 dTon vehicle? 12 dTons worth? What?

Pakkrat, is having cargo lifted out of the top by crane, or loaded and offloaded by upper deck gantry at all a problem, or entirely doable? The traffic flow through the ship seems to require cargo and fuel on the upper deck rather than the lower one.

I have not heard any instance of cranes lowering cargo into a vessel. Most times it's dropped below the dorsal side to the tarmac or a gangplank, much like a gangway at an airport terminal is armed around to the side of the ship for port or starboard loading and unloading. Gev, like any do-....er....Vargr likes an open top Air/Raft, especially so he can feel the wind in his face and let his tongue out. Wait. Don't judge me, monkeys. On the topic of these super Armored Personnel Carriers with an anti vehicle turret, I have no such need. Our clients want off the ship when we land at a destination, not to be put into a tinier, flying box that has everybody looking at each other like we're inserting into a hot LZ with more humies in the treeline waiting for one of us to step on a bouncing betty. But I digress. This is largely superfluous gear. Sergei or Nylus in a Powered Armor and holding a FGMP-12 is quite enough a turret standing up in the back seat of an Air/Raft thank you.

Well, Cameron mentioned ground vehicles, so I think we're obligated to consider it.

I figured some ground support may be useful for some missions. Perhaps the shuttle would be able to carry it? Or are there any vehicles that can survive re-entry? Maybe not haha.

A Modular Cutter could do that, but I think those are around 50 dTons. At the current tonnage, it would be better to just land the ship. Please come up with a specific list of vehicles to build the vehicle bay around, so we have an actual size to work with.

I was thinking of an AFV or APC that would allow us to travel around in relatively higher safety. We could also get some lighter vehicles for scouting or faster movement. The Military Vehicles supplement for MongTrav has a lot of what I'm thinking of: AFV, ATV, APC, Scout Buggy, Assault Bike, SATV.

Also, I'm not super worried about having vehicles, but I figured it could be a decent way to give ourselves an edge in ground operations.

Please start a vehicle selection thread, so we can nail down the dTonage. I’m interested in some sort of stealthy hoverbike for recon, with some modest concealed weapons on it, for myself.

I need some more details about how the ship is going to be used in order to get some of the last compartments blocked out. Speak up if you think a position is missing, if you think a position belongs to you, or if you think it belongs to someone else. The new ship Primary Posts: Primary Pilot, Primary Navigator - Gev Co-Pilot, Secondary Navigator - Primary Sensors, Primary Comms, Primary Computers Engineer - Charoux Starboard Bow Gunner - Port Bow Gunner - Stern Gunner - Vehicle Bay, Air/Raft, & Shuttle Mechanic - Quartermaster -  Chief Executive - Colonel Lloyd Robertson Primary Steward - Some robot Primary Troop Discipline, Brig Warden - Sergei Andronokov Primary Doctor - Dr. Lyireh Ros-Galyin Barek Primary Main Engineering - Gerald Rothschild Secondary Posts: Backup Pilot - Backup Gunner - Secondary Doctor - Rico Secondary Comms - Secondary Steward - Charoux Additional posts or passengers?

The chief Engineer is Gerald. He cold-started the Artemis' power plant and maneuver drives last game. Seem to me that our troop commander is the Gentleman Colonel Robertson.   EDIT:  Robertson both handles his marines AND is chief Negotiator for the Corporation. Gerald Rothschild got the Artemis's power plant and maneuver drives going and charged up the jump field for us, making him chief Engineer. Rico seems to be our field medical officer for the away teams. He can be ship secondary medical plus any other skill he may have while no one needs a bandaid. Reminder: Anyone with Gunnery-0 skill or better can be a gunner. On the 300-ton "stretched" Far Trader, one of the turrets is controlled by the fourth chair in the bridge.

Colonel Robertson: Is his job more to baby-sit the troops and make sure they behave, or is his job more to do business and negotiate our contracts? If the latter, whose job is it to do that babysitting?

Pakkrat said: Any Screens is a good thing. Screens can recharge. Armor has to be repaired. Civilian Screens or low-end military Screens, is fine for this nervous Vargr. No Screens is like walking around with breeches down near your ankles, humans. Is there a type of screen small enough for us to use them? Mongoose Traveller SRD has them at 50 dTons...

Pakkrat said: EDIT:  Robertson both handles his marines AND is chief Negotiator for the Corporation. O.K., so... my vision for the ship was to have Robertson's quarters next to a fancy office so he can impress our clients. However, that would mean that he's not next to the ground-pounding jarheads to keep them in line, make sure they aren't starting trouble, stay confined to quarters when they're supposed to be, get thrown in the brig when they've crossed the line, and don't, you know, mutiny. Is there someone to fill this drill-sergeant-ish role of primary disciplinarian? Also, can I get a roll call of the party members, so I can be sure I have the right amount of quarters available?

So, far, we have seen in this stretch of scenarios, (beginning with the Annic Nova  discovery): Colonel Lloyd Robertson Gerald Rothschild Captain Panzor Larzamonte Charoux Sergei Andronokov Nylus Senior Scout Gevaudan Cannagrrh NPCs, beginning with last Sunday (07/19/2015): Dame Qithka Cannagrrh, she is insisting on High Passage Uthka Varzeekh, an Unequal, the Dame has pushed her to Mid Passage Witness, orbits the Dame at all times except when she ditched the robot to use the fresher.

Pakkrat, since no one is speaking up, mind peeking at the character sheets and assigning duties? You're generally in charge of the ship anyway, aren't you? I'm not sure whether it's more appropriate for the man-tank or the giant bear to keep the ground-pounding jarheads in line.

Sorry for my late reply. I completely forgot to check messages yesterday. Sergei is capable  being in control on the ground (+3/+4 to Tactics) with the Colonel relaying orders and tactical information from the Artemis. I'm sure he can also instill the proper discipline into the troops, should it be necessary. People tend to be afraid of a man who's more machine than human.