Re: Gypsy Moth
Gautheaux Class Details and Quirks
Overview and Appearance
Gypsy Moth is a streamlined, high, gull-winged design. Sleek and graceful, the fuselage swoops up to high, slightly drooping wings. A small launch nestles
under the bridge, between twin, business-like turrets. Specifically, the fuselage is 45m long, 22.5m wide at its widest point, and 4m tall. The wings
are 33m long, 1.2m thick for most of their width, and boast a wingspan of 59m. The wings are slightly wider, 1.5m at the tips, and droop slightly for improved
atmospheric control. The bottom skin of the fuselage is 1.25m off the ground when landed. The underside of the wings is roughly four meters of the ground
under the highest point, but only three meters off the ground at the tips.
The cargo bays are 4m high. All other decks are 2m high. Of this, approximately 1.90m is useable, the remainder being taken up by cabling, ventilation, etc.
Accommodations
Each crew stateroom is designed for double occupancy. Likewise, the VIP stateroom can easily accommodate two sophonts. The passenger staterooms are
intended for single occupancy, but each has a fold-down second bunk mounted in the bulkhead, in most cases concealed by tasteful paintings or decorative wall
hangings, in the event double occupancy is required. The passenger lounge is somewhat larger and better appointed than standard. The ship’s workout room is
small but well equipped with universal cardiovascular and muscle resistance machines, as well as a small sauna. A crew and passenger laundry locker
provides facilities for cleaning and pressing most types of clothing.
Airlocks
The ship has three personnel and two cargo airlocks. A passenger airlock forward is fairly Spartan. It is intended to embark and disembark passengers,
guests, and to conduct routine business planetside. Due to the forward airlock’s location, mating with a docking collar is impossible if the launch is
present or difficult if it is absent. The dorsal and aft airlocks are somewhat larger and have ample racks for vacc suits and other equipment. The accessway
for the dorsal airlock protrudes slightly above the ship’s hull and the nearby dorsal turret, making it the easiest personnel airlock with which to achieve a
seal with a docking collar. The aft airlock is also compatible with docking collars, but is designed to allow the crew convenient surface access on
inhospitable worlds. Cargo airlocks are described in the cargo operations section below.
Cargo Operations
The ship has two cargo bays, each capable of accomodating sixty (60) tons.
The cargo deck is four meters high. Tracks in the overhead support one cargo lift per bay. The lift can hoist, carry, and lower one standard cargo container
to any of six stations or the airlock, in each cargo bay, quickly and efficiently. The ship has two forward cargo ramps, one in each bay, and two aft
cargo airlocks, once again one per cargo bay. Each cargo ramp is nine meters long and sits about 1.5 meters above the ground at its high end when
planetside. Therefore, the angle of each ramp is about six degrees, a relatively modest incline for cargo operations. The airlocks themselves are big
enough, barely, for a standard cargo container. The cargo airlock inner doors slide outboard, making for a fairly tight squeeze with the aftermost cargo
container should the ship have a full load of containers. The outer doors swing outboard, up to 180 degrees. The surface surrounding the door edges is well-
designed to achieve a seal with docking collars, but the ship has no docking collar itself. Any docking collar used must be long enough to accommodate the
ship’s outer door. Otherwise, the outer door must be opened before docking. The aft airlocks do not have cargo ramps. Extension bars, along with structural
guy wires and supporting kingposts, may be rigged to allow containers to be traversed clear of the hull and lowered to the surface. Rigging an extension
bar is an easy (+2) mechanical or engineering task. A storeroom near the port cargo bay is designed to hold portable cargo handling gear, container tiedowns,
dunnage, and other cargo handling items, as well as miscellaneous items up to one ton in volume. It also functions as a workshop for tools and minor repair
items and spare parts.
Command, Control, Communications, and Computers
The major components of shipboard computing are kept stove piped to maximize survivability, even on commercial starships. The functions fuse at the
workstations, which can be configured to the needs of the operator. Some workstations can take local control of certain functions, overriding any remote
orders. For example, a piloting order given at either of the two central workstations on the bridge overrides a piloting order from anywhere else on the
ship. (see workstations below)
Engineering Overview
The powerplant and maneuver drives are found on the upper level, while the jump drive and life support systems are located on the lower level. Twin fuel
processors are located in port and starboard upper engineering. Maintenance panels located in upper engineering allow access to the cargo bays. Removing a
maintenance panel requires 15-20 minutes. The maintenance panels can not be opened from the cargo bay side.
Engineering Parameters
The heart of the ship is the jump drive, which boasts a two parsec range. The gravitic maneuver drives are also quite capable, capable of maintaining constant
3G acceleration with inertial dampening. The Alsace produced powerplant is somewhat bulkier than comparable Espiaux models, but has a sound reputation for
reliability.
Fuel System
The ship has two fuel tanks. Each wing tank holds fifty two tons of fuel. This is sufficient for two parsecs of jump and four weeks of powerplant operations.
Fuel scoops are located in the leading edge of each wing and feed
directly to the fuel tanks. Fuel must then be cycled through the purifiers located in upper engineering.
Hull
The hull is constructed of tempered crystal iron to a thickness of 10cm (4pts of armor). Additionally, the hull incorporates a thin layer of liquid crystal iron
which acts to self-seal small breaches.
Landing Gear
The landing gear are composed of eight articulated pads, four each along the port and starboard edges of the lower fuselage. As the landing gear are only
about eleven meters apart athwartships, if the ship lands with more than a fifteen degree list port to starboard, it is likely to tip-over. The bottom
skin of the fuselage sits about 1.25 meters above the ground planetside.
The Launch
Massing only ten tons, the launch is intended for short range transportation of a handful of passengers and limited cargo (up to 1,000kg). It is equipped with
three passenger stations and controls for one pilot. The launch’s electronics and performance characteristics are limited, but it does boast excellent
atmospheric handling characteristics. Due to design limitations, the launch can not be deployed while the ship is planetside. If use of the launch is intended
while the ship is planetside, it should be deployed and land in close proximity to the ship.
Life Support
Stowage space for roughly three tons of provisions, air filters, and sanitation catalyzers is available in the purser’s locker, galley, and engineering spaces.
A six hundred liter waste recycling tank for potable water is located in lower engineering. The ship’s life support system can support an absolute maximum of
thirty five sophonts before the air scrubbers become overloaded and unable to maintain safe levels of carbon dioxide. Above twenty four sophonts use of water
must be rationed. Above twenty eight sophonts sanitation facilities may become overloaded.
Safety
In addition to portable fire extinguishers, an automatic fire suppression foam system is installed in the overhead of the cargo deck and all engineering
spaces. A high-pressure fog, water sprinkler system, fed from the potable water tank, extends automatic firefighting suppression to the galley, crew and
passenger staterooms, and the passenger lounge.
Security
Iris valves and hatches are guarded by electronic locks with a reserve mechanical lock. The mechanical lock on hatches is considerably stronger than
that on iris valves. Interior doors posses a simpler electronic lock and a simple mechanical latch, which may be opened with a master key. Discreet
security cameras are mounted in work spaces, crew and passenger common spaces, access airlocks, and the cargo hold. Cameras are not mounted in any staterooms, the VIP office, sickbay, or the launch. A secure, bonded, storage locker, equipped with sophisticated electronic and mechanical locks, is located on the bridge. A secure ship’s locker is located near the crew mustering area on the upper deck. Additional lockers are located in all airlocks, the engineering spaces, the lower deck storeroom, and the workshop. Those additional lockers are not capable of withstanding a determined intrusion attempt.
Sensors
The ship’s sensor package is somewhat more capable than most commercial vessels. It includes the full range of visual, thermal, and RADAR/LIDIR
devices, to include passive electronic monitoring and a limited countermeasures capability.
Ship’s Locker
(for ship’s locker contents see next post) A secure, bonded, storage locker, equipped with sophisticated electronic and mechanical locks, is located on the
bridge. A secure ship’s locker is located near the crew mustering area on the upper deck. Additional lockers are located in all airlocks, the engineering
spaces, the lower deck storeroom, and the workshop.
Sick Bay
The ship’s compact sick bay is located on the upper level and consists of a single station, fully stocked, operating room with ancillary monitoring and
support equipment for subsequent care.
Weapons
The ship is pre-wired to support up to four turrets. Hardpoints one and two are chin turrets located under the bridge while hardpoints three and four are
located along the ship’s dorsal spine. Each hardpoint has one ton allocated for ammunition storage. When the ship is planetside, turrets one and two can engage
targets forward, while turrets four can engage ground targets aft. Turret three can not engage ground targets planetside. Gypsy Moth is currently armed as
follows:
Turret 1: double turret, two 5.5cm hypervelocity (long-range) railguns, 30 rounds of ammo
Turret 2: double turret, two 5.5cm hypervelocity (long-range) railguns, 30 rounds of ammo
Turret 3: plated over hardpoint – no turret or weapons
Turret 4: double turret, one beam laser (accurate), one sandcaster, 20 rounds of ammo
Workstations and operation sub-routines
The ship has eight fully configurable workstations on board: bridge (x4), upper engineering (x2), lower engineering (x2). They may be configured to run the
following sub-routines:
Helm (Pilot in Command) – provides full flight control functions. This sub-routine may only be run at either of the two center stations on the bridge due
to hardware requirements (yoke and pedals).
Helm (Secondary) – provides limited flight control (no evasion, -2 to all piloting checks). May be run at any workstation as long as Pilot in Command sub-
routine is not initialized. Intended for emergency control of helm functions.
Helm (Observation) – May be run at multiple workstations simultaneously. Provides limited information about ship’s helm and sensor data, but no input.
Astrogation – May be run at any single workstation. Bridge workstation commands will override other stations and can be used to restrict access to Astrogation
sub-routine.
Sensor Operator – May be run at multiple workstations simultaneously and includes electronic warfare. Bridge workstation commands will override other
stations and can be used to restrict access to Sensor Operator sub-routines.
External Communications – May be run at multiple workstations simultaneously. Bridge workstation commands will override other stations and can be used to
restrict access to external communications.
Security and Surveillance – May be run at multiple workstations simultaneously. Bridge workstation commands will override other stations and can be used to
restrict access to S&S sub-routine.
Engineering (Power) – May be run at any single workstation. Forward Upper engineering workstation commands will override other stations and can be used to
restrict access to Power sub-routine.
Engineering (Jump) – May be run at any single workstation. Aft Lower engineering workstation commands will override other stations.
Engineering (Maneuver) – May be run at any single workstation. Aft Upper engineering workstation commands will override other stations.
Life Support – May be run at any single workstation. Forward Lower engineering workstation commands will override other stations and can be used to restrict
access to Life Support sub-routine.
Damage Control – May be run at any workstation, forward workstation in upper engineering overrides. Sub-routine is information only unless ship has repair
drones.
Engineering (Observation) - May be run at multiple workstations simultaneously. Provides limited information about ship’s drives and life
support, but no input.
This message was last edited by the GM at 14:29, Sat 16 Apr 2011.
