the New Ship

The new ship now has a tab in the Company Records workbook. I called it Athena for the moment, since I think that's the most popular name so far. Let's try to decide on an official name on Sunday? I've edited the Ares Ship Specs by removing all of the stuff that we moved over to the Athena. Pay your last respects, as I'll be removing the page soon. Do you guys want to throw a ceremony for the Colonel in the the old girl before we turn her over? Perhaps followed by a reception/party? I imagine the Duchess with will be cool with that, and (Sebastien says) it might present some good opportunities for networking, making contacts, etc.

Party? with booze and women?. hehehe Since I'm the small craft pilot, Is there any chance i can have some say in the naming of the of the assault shuttle? If so, and this goes back to my Aboriginal root, I'd like to name her after the first Aboriginal resistance fighter Pemulwuy <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pemulwuy" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pemulwuy</a>. He was a powerful man in his culture called a "clever man" He possessed the magic of the land and his people, he was the lore giver and law maker, in traveler he would have been a very powerful Psion (I wont tell Runt that bit) and&nbsp; he was a warrior that never quit while he breathed. Its not too much of a stretch as we have a habit of using names from Earths far past. Just a thought you can happily tell me to piss of and its a stupid idea :)

This farewell-to-ship party needs exact dates DDD-1110 and is an opportunity to cleanse the Ares of anything the Duchess of Mora might find or use against the Artemis Group in the future.&nbsp; It also allows the revival of Dr. SIMone, much to the surprise of those not in the know, (Sebastien et al).&nbsp; The Duchess had to take Isis and return to Mora subsector.&nbsp; She left enough hired crew members to pilot the Ares with a newer jumpdrive, (the Zhunastu had to be gutted and given back to the IISS to avoid a stink).&nbsp;&nbsp;The latest the Artemis Group has access to the Ares is 050-1110, so plan accordingly. I have some downtime and Encounter&nbsp;concerning the week of 040-1110, so the party needs to be dated afterwards.&nbsp; Also, the Sixth Horizon is completed 060-1110 and as such Gevaudan and the Extents Vargr will be aboard then to comply with Gev's Ducal banishment. The Ship's Locker tab on the Company Records needs a place to be stored between the Ares turnover and the completion of the Athena.&nbsp; That's a lot of stuff, so either sell it off, fence it or hide it in a barn on the estate.&nbsp; Remember that gear we want to keep has to have some place to rest in the interim. Finally, each character during the stayover on Lunion/Lunion needs to decide if they reside at the Argentill Vineyards, a Downport hotel, a Highport hotel, or goes wandering into the Rural countryside.&nbsp; This helps me place the nature of any Encounters that came up during that interim between 040-1110 and the departure for the two Wypoc Tickets, (Ducal Wypoc and Vengeance Tickets).

I'm wondering if we can hire a cargo container and store our gear at the starport rather than try to hide it all somewhere on the sly? A little more honest and clean that way. Probably safer too. And when the time comes to load it into our new ship it's right there at the starport.&nbsp; Kayleb will probably use his TAS membership to get a good rate at the starport hotel.

I think we could make some where on the estate secure, especially if Gerald and Izak are researching the pre-Magee stuff. Any where we hire is subject to out side forces, and that's some expensive stuff to loose. Man Izek is willing to sleep in the barn, or what ever we get in to store it in.&nbsp; Yes i am that greedy as to loose sleep over it.

Jeff offers to be on guard duty due to his Odin eye giving him much better vision in the dark due to him being able to see light wavelengths, he (theoretically) can see people wearing the stuff that makes them invisible to the naked eye. Not only that but he can control 3 robots and use their sensors to see everything, as well as help protect it. Besides he's guaranteed to hit even if they dodge. But it would have to be a week from the day after court, he's recovering from some minor surgery he went through after court. Nothing major don't worry. EDIT: changed some pronouns that made it hard to distinguish if it was in character or out of character, I really need to proofread this stuff.

Gerald also has a sweet of drones that are made for looking out for and recording things that should not be there.

Charoux will be staying at the Darrian Embassy... He’ll no doubt need the help of the local Special Arm Coordinator to have his paperwork on various recent events submitted. He’ll approve of the Armory Materials and the Darrian Ship Parts being kept at the Estate. We’ll have to work out experimental test flights sometime later, but he’ll be happy to help with any technical inquiries into the Hyperspace Drive. If it can be arranged in time, it would be good to have Gev’s statue released at the party. We should arrange to have the party after letting the Duchess’s Officers inspect the ship, so they can be our invited guests. Since Charoux owes the Crew a Party, he’ll foot the bill for it; let me know how much. Charoux will ask if Sebastien came through on those suggestions for gifts from the Duke of Lunion of Tea for Uthka and Ship Upgrades & Build Expediting for Gev; that would be a good occasion to deliver them. I’m still in favor of “Adrasteia” for the ship name (but certainly willing to settle for “Athena”), “Aegis” for a new Company name, and I’ll happily go along with “Pemulwuy” for the Assault Shuttle, in spite of my complete ignorance on the matter.

The Duchesses representatives will have gone through the Ares before we finalized the deal with her, so that won't be an issue. Which is good, as we need to take her body back up to the Ares to reactivate her, and we probably don't want company for that. I expect it to be awkward enough as is. As for your kind offer to foot the bill for the party, Sebastien insists that he will bring the wine, brandies, etc., but otherwise thank you. Let's go ahead and schedule the party for 050-1110. I don't know anything about a statue, but Sebastien should be able to help with the matter, as he would with the matter of the gifts. Just run them by Pakkrat to make sure that they're possible, and tell me what kinds of rolls I need to make. I do think that we'd be better off doing the storage and research on the High Port than at the estate, although Sebastien has no objection. The estate just isn't really set up for secure storage or research. Except in regards to botany, wines and spirits, that is.&nbsp; I'm still not sure we need to change the name of the company, although I do agree that Aegis is a good name. My two name choices are still Argo or Athena , in that order. The compulsive side of me has a problem with naming the Attack Shuttle after anybody other than a figure from greek mythology, but it really wouldn't matter to Crow, so I'm cool with Pemulwuy ,&nbsp;as long everybody else is on board.

There’s too much opportunity for intrigue in doing this sort of thing at the High Port. Better to do it somewhere where we can shoot people on sight for being nosey.

Tenacious Techhunter said: There’s too much opportunity for intrigue in doing this sort of thing at the High Port. Better to do it somewhere where we can shoot people on sight for being nosey. I totally agree with that idea. We can rent modular labs or even just shipping containers and set them up our selves, it will cost a packet for modular labs etc but an investment worth effort. Maybe we could Ask the the duke to borrow some Aslan guards that are in the dog house for their stupidity and incompetence as a punishment detail. more than adequate compensation :) As for Pemulwuy he was a resistance fighter against English occupation&nbsp; who to day is wrapped up in as much myth as he is in reality, by the 1100 imp year he would be as much myth as Aegis Athena or Argo. and since its an attack shuttle i thought a warriors name would&nbsp; be appropriate. but as i said I'm kool either way.

As long as we can get better security privately, both of my charcters are good with that. Certainly, they'd both do whatever they can to make happen.

Do we have a deck plan for the new ship? Are we fitting breaching tubes?

Do we want a breaching tube? Or would it be better to use the shuttle for boarding actions?

I think we should be able to use them on both, if our drives are out and we repel a boarding action, we can then counter board at a place where they are not prepared and waiting. and the are only a couple of tons.

I think it would be better to not risk the big ship on a boarding action. That’s what the Shuttle is for.

Its for counter boarding, Some times you don't have a say in when you are boarded, like when your Mdrive is shot up.

Yes, but then they’re just going to board us on the side of the ship that doesn’t have the boarding tube on it. :P

Well we have 2 of them. My reasoning is that charging down a tube with prepared defenses is not a smart idea.

We could counter board through whatever hole the boarders came in through.&nbsp; Also worth keeping in mind that you don't need a boarding tube to board someone. They just make it easier to be creative with your boarding. With a boarding tube you don't need to go in through one of their hatches. You can cut a hole straight into their cargo bay or into their bridge. With regular airlock docking you'd need to go in through their airlock or some other portal. Can be pretty sure that they're waiting for you on the other side of the door with big guns.&nbsp; Boarding Actions If two ships are Adjacent or docked, then a boarding action can be attempted. If the ships are docked, then the attackers may cross over safely via airlocks. If the ships are merely adjacent, then the attackers must use thruster packs or small craft to cross over. While crossing, the attackers may be attacked with point defence weapons or by firing sand (see Reactions). Once across, boarding actions can be resolved using the personal combat rules or the quick boarding rules (see opposite). P149 Main Rulebook.&nbsp; A manoeuvre action can be used to: Dock with another vessel: The pilot must make a successful Pilot check. If the other ship does not wish to be docked with then make opposed Pilot checks; the ship trying to dock suffers a –2 DM. When docked, boarding actions can take place. Breaching Tube: &nbsp;All airlocks include flexible plastic docking tubes that allow passengers to cross from one ship to another by floating through the air–filled tube. A breaching tube is a military version of the common docking tube. Instead of a thin myomer, the breaching tube is made of a combination of ballistic cloth and reflec. The breaching tube does not end in a docking collar, but in a magnetic clamp with a ring of plasma torches that can burn through the hull of an enemy vessel when attached. A breaching tube takes up three tons of space and costs MCr 3. To use the breaching tube the craft must be adjacent to the target vessel and then succeed in a docking action (see Core Rule book page 147). As the vessel does not have to line up with an airlock, this manoeuvre is easier than using a normal docking tube and receives a +1 DM if the boarding vessel does not want to enter via the airlock. If access is acquired via an airlock the plasma torches quickly burn through the airlock and boarding can begin immediately. If trying to get through the hull, the plasma torches will take 1 full turn to cut through, increasing by 1 turn for each 2 points of armour (round down). Each breaching tube provides 5 armour against personal and vehicle weapons and 10 armour against lasers. A hit from a starship weapon will destroy the breaching tube if a successful Point Defence roll is made (see core rulebook p149). So you can still board a ship without giving up 3 dtons and 3 million cr &nbsp;for a breaching tube. Breaching tubes just make it easier and give you more options. I think it's my Hebrew heritage that makes me such a scrooge. Every time I see a price tag I start looking for the cheaper option. Bad habit. &nbsp;

VIC e. said: Well we have 2 of them. My reasoning is that charging down a tube with prepared defenses is not a smart idea. Fair point.&nbsp;

Actually, I'm pretty sure we have only one breaching tube. The plan was to fit it into the Attack Shuttle. Not that we couldn't buy another if we really needed it.

May say we should keep these Emp generators and place them in our air locks, we then shield the air locks and make them part of the security system. we could remote activate them when un friendlies come aboard or they could trip if the security systems are breached. Why should we be the only ones to get messed up by these things.

If they're not one shot devices that's a great idea.&nbsp; If we survive this show we should definately add them to our loot haul!

VIC e. said: May say we should keep these Emp generators and place them in our air locks, we then shield the air locks and make them part of the security system. we could remote activate them when un friendlies come aboard or they could trip if the security systems are breached. Why should we be the only ones to get messed up by these things. That's some heads-up thinking. As Alby said, it depends on whether or not they're reusable, but if so, they could be really useful in any number of ways.

Awww you 2 make me blush :)

OK, here are the existing deckplans that we have to work with: 1. FFE/T5 And 2. Classic Traveller LBB (Crappy scans, sry)

Just a heads-up, folks: with all of the trade stuff, the Ship Operations tab and the Dashboard chat, and the fact that I'm going to be on the road all day Saturday, there's no realistic way I'm going to the Athena deck plan. If somebody else can pick that up, I'd be grateful. If not, I'll get to it when I can.

Just a few thoughts about the deckplans.&nbsp; Keep the T5 plans pretty much how they are. We make DECK A the "Command Deck". So the bridge and all command personnel staterooms are on this upper deck. There is a vehicle garage (A5) on this deck, but I thought it'd be cool to have a second transperisteel&trade; pannel behind the armoured sliding doors so that command personnel have a lounge area that looks out into space. Lovely. If their single occupancy staterooms are represented with six squares each then that's two squares per stateroom to make a lounge area out of. Sure it'd work. &nbsp; &nbsp; DECK B could be the "Gunnery Deck". Mainly because most of the gunnery consoles and gunner staterooms are on this deck. It would make sense if the security was focused on this deck too as it is the deck between the command deck and the rest of the ship. Gunner staterooms already seem to be next to the turrets, so I'm thinking that this may be the deck to have all the gunner/security staterooms, as well as the armoury.&nbsp; DECK C could be renamed "Mid-Deck", mainly because it is the middle deck, and also because there are a bunch of different things on this deck and it'd be a problem to name a deck after all of those different things. The Barbettes and fore/dorsal turrets are accessed from this deck. &nbsp;Seeing that we're not going for the missile bays the original cruiser has I'm thinking that controlling the aft/ventral turrets from this deck may also make sense. If for no other reason that it saves the gunners a longer run/climb to get into a turret. I'm thinking that the crew staterooms could mainly be on this deck.&nbsp; DECK D & E could be "Cargo/Passenger decks". They're separate from the rest of the crew and command decks, and a little safer in combat seeing that we're more likely to be presenting our dorsal side to enemies in order to broadside them with our turrets. Seeing that the belly side of the ship may be forming some of the walls or floor of these decks I was thinking that it'd be great to have sliding armored panels again like on the Command Deck. Would be great for passengers to have a view of space, or of a world from orbit. Imagine a "glass bottomed boat" setup with a transperisteel&trade; dance floor! While you're wining & dinning or disco dancing the world your in orbit above is under your feet. Nice.&nbsp; Just ideas.&nbsp; Keep in mind that downgrading the drives means that 120dtons that used to be set aside for fuel is now available for other things. So we have another 240 squares to play with. The areas that are currently greyed out for fuel can be used for cargo or other stuff.&nbsp; EDIT: The real challenge with making new plans is that we have replaced their 30dton boat with a 90dton shuttle. On top of that we need to accomodate the working space around the shuttle and not simply have a snug hole like the current boat has.&nbsp; That means we need to move engines and other things around to make our shuttle fit. For anyone taking on this job I'd recommend finding space for the shuttle bay first. &nbsp;That way you can make the other ship components fit around it.&nbsp; Also worth keeping in mind that the current ships boat takes up three decks. This is because it it a tube 4 squares in diameter. Our shuttle is much wider, but a bit flatter. We may be able to get away with a wider area on only two decks.&nbsp;

Great input, Alby. I agree that the Hangar is the biggest thing to figure out. At this point I've been thinking right along the same line as you: The Hangar takes a significantly wider space at the aft of the ship on D and E decks, including recovered space on E Deck. Engineering would be above the Hangar at the aft on C and probably some of B.

Hey there's a little pod behind deck B and D. What is that? It looks like an auxiliary bridge, or maybe a little space buggy. Is that attached to the hull somewhere or docked in a port somehow?&nbsp;

Alby said: Hey there's a little pod behind deck B and D. What is that? It looks like an auxiliary bridge, or maybe a little space buggy. Is that attached to the hull somewhere or docked in a port somehow?&nbsp; I don't have a description with the deck plans, so your guess is as good as mine. I assumed it was just one of the ship's small craft.

Its a small ships boat, 10 DT i think.

We should make sure that we have a nice rug to lay over the transparent dance floor, in case someone has a phobia about space-grade heights.

Yer you would never get me on a glass floor in RL. . glass roof yer but not floor. If you are gunna make the floor glass , where do u put the grav plates?

&nbsp;Just remembered that we also have an extra Air raft to drag as one of the NPC's has 1. No fuss though as we have more than enough room for it. So that's 2 open top civ cars we can use.

Does anything in canon say that grav plates can’t be transparent? No open top... fully enclosed and pressurized.

I don't think we have a say in 1 on the Air rafts, it belongs to an NPC We could swap the grav plating around and have the the place upside down and look up through the floor.

Yeah, the npc's air/raft is not with us. She'll have leave that at home, or whatever. And we decided not to get our own air/raft when we decided to get the second G/Carrier.

Tenacious Techhunter said: We should make sure that we have a nice rug to lay over the transparent dance floor, in case someone has a phobia about space-grade heights. I was thinking sliding panels? I used to work at a resort where we had a modular dance floor that we would put together for certain occasions. I figured the glass floor would be covered up most of the time either by panels like those dancefloors we used to put together or by something that slides mechanically. Thinking about it though, your rug idea is a good one. Just rolling a section of carpet over it would be easier! About the grav plates in the glass, ... yeah I duno. I always imagined that artificial grav plates worked by converting the "weak" gravitational force into a "strong" one like the magnetic force. If that isn't the case then folks 100s of kilometers above the starship would be affected by our 1G grav plate. Someone EVA wouldn't need magnetic boots or safety lines to stay close to the ship. They'd be walking on the top deck they same way they walk around inside. If something was drifting above the ship, even several kilometers away, it would begin falling toward the ship accelerating at 10m/s^2. I'm pretty sure that's not how the plates work in Traveller. Otherwise grav plates would work like tractor beams! Not that gravity is a "force" so much. According to the theory or relativity it's more of a curvature of space/time. So if the gravitational force is a "strong" one rather than a "weak" one, and affects objects more like a magnet does, then the field may look like this: ... and if that's the case ( it may not be ) then a grav plate on the roof pushing you down would be as good as a grav plate on the floor pulling you down. It's probably silly to be scientific about something that's really just sci-fi magic. So ... short answer ... maybe put the grav plates on the ceiling?

Another advantage of a rug (or multiple rugs) is that we can hang them to partition the space if necessary. Hanging cloth is great for improvised soundproofing. I’m not clear on what a conversion between atomic forces has to do with whether or not the required plate is transparent. Also, look up sheet magnets... they aren’t bipolar. :)

I hope they aren't bipolar, that's my position in the game to be the bipolar nut job and be dammed if i am going to share that position with a imaginary piece of steel sheeting. grrrrrrr

Here's where I'm at so far with the deck plans for the Athena:

Here's an update on the deck plans.

Wolfen, on any practical scale, the text is too small. Make it bigger. I’m sure this suggestion will be ignored, but you should probably disperse the turrets around the ship more. And 2 of those are barbettes.

I figured the Barbettes would be replacing the two bay weapons on each of the "wingtips" as for turret distribution, all offensive turrets need to fire into the same arc, while defensive turrets would be good to spread around - which I think is already a thing. The six offensive turrets are on the deck, and we have two point defense/sand/missile turrets each on top and bottom (I think?). So we're covered, and we can broadside a single target.

Tenacious Techhunter said: Wolfen, on any practical scale, the text is too small. Make it bigger. I’m sure this suggestion will be ignored, but you should probably disperse the turrets around the ship more. And 2 of those are barbettes. Yeah, I realize that about the text, but if I make it much bigger, it'll be bigger than the things it's meant to label. I'll see what I can do, though. In regards to turret distribution, please see Alby's response. Additionally, the setup pictured is the normal layout of the Colonial Cruiser (T5 version), so I think that like me, the designers realize that firing arcs are meaningless&nbsp;considering the time and physical scales of spacecraft combat. (Not to mention that firing arcs are literally not a thing in Mongoose Traveller spacecraft combat rules.)

Maybe we could just number the rooms, and have a sticky post on the forum stating who is in which room? That will save us having to change the deckplans once our NPCs start getting butchered. Or maybe use some kind of code, numbering the ships from bow to stern based on their deck and on which side of the ship they're on. So a stateroom on the Gunnery Deck could be GDS2. That room would be the second room from the front, on the starboard side of the gunnery deck. As for fire arcs, TTs idea of sorting them out isn't totally bad. Even though space combat doesn't pay any attention to arcs of fire, there may be situations where we will need to have sorted it out. Lets just say the ship is landed at a starport. if that grav tank that's parked up next to the ship need to be blown away we will need to be firing at it with a turret on the ship's belly or on one of the sides. Turrets on the deck wouldn't be much use. Or if Athena is on the ground and wanting to attack a ship in orbit, it would be the top deck turrets that would be able to bear, with the belly turrets not being much use. I'm not sure how much chopping and changing we're allowed to do before we lose the 10% standard design bonus, but I'm thinking it'd be good to keep things as close to the original exterior design as possible. We're probably on thin ice as it is - needing a big old door for our 90t shuttle.

Alby said: I figured the Barbettes would be replacing the two bay weapons on each of the "wingtips" as for turret distribution, all offensive turrets need to fire into the same arc, while defensive turrets would be good to spread around - which I think is already a thing. The six offensive turrets are on the deck, and we have two point defense/sand/missile turrets each on top and bottom (I think?). So we're covered, and we can broadside a single target. I may need to correct myself there. Seems to be a sure thing that the six beam/pulse/particle turrets are on the top deck. So we have four turrets left. Two are Pulse/Missle/Sand and the other two are Missile/Missile/Sand . I'm a big fan of being able to zap up the landing zone as we're coming in for a touchdown, so I'd like to suggest that the two chin turrets (already on the deck plans) be the Pulse/Missile/Sand ones. I thought the original plans had&nbsp; two turrets on the top deck toward the rear - but I was totally wrong. On the T5 plans the remaining two hardpoints are for two 50t missile bays. The thinking of those bays seems to be that the missiles drop down from the belly of the ship to fly out toward their target. We probably don't have to stick with that seeing that a change from a 50t weapon to a turret is a radical one. We could probably put those last two Missile/Missile/Sand turrets wherever we like. I was thinking that a couple of turrets on the top deck toward the rear or the ship would be cool. That way we'd have sandcaster coverage all over. Either that or they could go where the missile bays used to be - just to keep it consistant with the original.