Sorry for the delay in responding. We are having to look into replacing our car and it's been a bit of a confusing mess. I should get back to regular posting tomorrow. We are looking at a Toyota hybrid van actually…

Good luck :-)

I mixed up Keipes and Kide in the last post, and so I fixed it. Keipes are the bad guys, Kide is opposing them.

Did we visit Kide?

No. You've gone as far as Execute, though.

In thinking on Joxe's question, Brent haas the full resources of a TL-15 shipyard and fabrication facility at his beck and call within reasonable limits. He's seen AIs like Edak, the remote equipment, vehicles, and other tech the facility has to offer. So, he can pretty much get a couple of robots, bespoke small craft, or whatever else he can think of that the Beowulf can carry. Wanderer also has the ability to navigate itself, though it's AI isn't quite sentient.

I'm ready to move ahead to the arrival at Gorky when you are.

A time jump is fine

In reply to Matt (msg # 639):

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter :-)

The TNE rules on ship's weapons depart from the Classic Traveller rules in an effort to be more realistic.

A shipboard turreted laser has an emitter dish that is about 3m in diameter, or nearly as large as the turret itself (3.6m dia x 4.2m tall). This emitter not only generates the laser pulse, but it also features a powerful grav generator that creates an intense field at a tiny point just ahead of the emitter. This field focuses the outgoing laser beam to a pencil-sized pulse, which then spreads out again under the inverse square law. This is what gives the beam it's range and penetrating power. So, while a larger installation might have multiple emitters, a standard turret only has one. That said, the emitter fires multiple times to generate hits at combat ranges of a quarter million kilometers or greater.

High tech Imperial ship killer missiles carry a bomb-pumped X-ray laser warhead. For Wanderer's small missiles, a 100kt nuclear charge is coupled with three lasing rods. These rods deploy when the weapon is ready to detonate, lining up on the target. When the charge detonates, the rods produce powerful X-ray laser beams that strike the target. While these beams last less than a millisecond, they are incredibly destructive. The missile is a stand-off weapon with a range of 3000km. They are fire-and-forget capable; they can be guided using the ship's sensors, and they can also function as mines. Each missile weighs 3 tons, and is .75m dia x 3m long.
This message was last edited by the GM at 05:42, Mon 01 Apr.

It sounds like we want some spare missiles to use as mines!

The missile system can launch anything that will both fit in the tube and interface with the launch system, which is a grav catapult. Yes, the missiles can be set as mines as a native function, and they can also use their telemetry links to act as remote sensor platforms.

The aforementioned comms buoys will be tube-launched. BTW, reloading the missile tubes is something typically done in port, since they're loaded externally in civilian ships. A carrier frame (speed loader?) holds the spare missiles, which fits over the open turret and emplaces the missiles in the tubes. It is possible to go EVA and load them in space, using an air raft, a cargo loader, or other vehicle to assist.
This message was last edited by the GM at 13:56, Sat 06 Apr.

As for supplies, I think the only items we'd really need to track are the missiles and other tube-launched vehicles. We can also specify what robots and vehicles are on board. For the rest, we can presume that Wanderer is stocked for six months.

That all sounds like good sense. Let me think about other vehicles. I think we definitely want remote sensor missiles that are optimized for stealth and sensor operation. We should make sure the air raft is sealed. I would say a couple of robot chassis for our AI friends to swap in and out.

You can either address what Brent wants to have in-game, or just list it here.

One thing about grav vehicles is that they blur the lines between aircraft and ground vehicles or watercraft. An Imperial APC is a cross between a space shuttle, a Bradley, and an attack helicopter, for example. It might be easier to describe the vehicle's features or roles rather than saying "air raft" or "G-Carrier".

I think we should have a second auto doc as a backup.

A couple reusable sensor drones (three) would be helpful. A sealed and very lightly armored air raft would be good. Can they make a war bot? I think we should have three or four alternate bodies for the AIs.

A pair of grav speeders.

Educational and training software and equipment.

The speeders and air raft should have mounts for weapons. I would rather run than fight but we need to be prepared.

Okay, so five comms buoys, equipped with station keeping packages, ten laser head missiles, and three sensors drones.

(The Imperial rules on warbots is that they must have a sophont's authorization to engage targets in narrowly-defined parameters. "Shoot anyone who threatens me" is too broad, as an example.)

Two light warbots with lasers and light MGs.

Two two-seat speeders with mounts for light missiles (think AA and AG missiles like AMRAMMS, Sidewinders, and Hellfires), gun or laser pods, plus ammo loadouts for them.

Two maintenance bots with EVA capability. These can be fitted with a wide array of tools and lifts.

One air raft (think large SUV with covert armor), with weapons mounts like the speeders.

All of these are grav vehicles with TL-15 fusion plants and HEPLAR+ propulsion, so they run on hydrogen.

Joxe suggests two battledress suits with Imperial Marine loadouts, plus two suits of combat armor and the "morgue" to support them. They will have to train with them, but it's the next best thing to having a tank wrapped around them.

All of this leaves them with twenty tons of cargo space, plus a spare crew cabin and two empty passenger cabins for up to four people.

That's a great list! I had not thought about the personal armor and weapons. I would add a pair of general-purpose robots for… General-purpose stuff

The maintenance bots would probably be as generic as they come, so we can put in four of them. They're about the size of a small farm tractor, and they have hydraulic, pneumatic, and electrical connections to mount and run many different attachments. They are each equipped with two small maintenance remotes, one about the side of a basketball, and the other is baseball-sized.

A fabricator facility would probably be good, too. I'm picturing something about the size of a cargo container, along with enough stock to make two tons of parts or assemblies.

We can refer back here as we go along, instead of making a separate list.

I like the idea of a fabricator. It would basically let us print parts or such as needed. Probably an advanced set of toolkits unless the maintenance robots come with them such that we can perform advanced repairs.

Yes, that sounds right. I'm taking some pains with this process because Wanderer won't have access to starports or shipyards while they're exploring.

I completely agree. Not only do we not have access to star ports but we may need to try to help local civilizations on our way. Having this extra stuff really helps.

We can update information in this thread as we go along. For now, we will assume that the needed equipment is being assembled and loaded.

I think we can hand wave a bit and summarize it all here quite easily, agreed.