Now for the final details, at least on a gross level. Infrastructure, gadgets, armor, etc.

I realized that I had started taking shortcuts and just listing the results. Since originally I wanted this process to be helpful to others, I had intended to include the calculations. I've tried to do better this time without going into too much detail.

Some items I've added just because they were there in the VDS design I did originally, and liked that they were part of the design. You can do a ship simpler and with less detail than I've done here...I mayhaps should have taken that approach.

Crew
(size 20k Hx = 8 (maybe 9); Post Atomic = +1 row; Civilian Vehicle = -1 row; Limited maneuverability = -4 rows; total of 2 crew needed (say 3).)

Crew: 3
Passengers: 5 (not primarily for passengers, but allows for a couple of extra PCs over and above the crew requirement, and still have room for a few passengers)

Bridge/Controls
Bridge and other control areas (engine room, access ways): Size Value -15 = 27-15 = 12 Hexes (9 cubic meters). (The bridge is actually larger than this for comfort, but the extra space is counted against Accomodations.)

Weapons Locker: 4 Hexes (3 m^3) (listed here because the weapons locker is on the bridge)

Accommodations
2nd class civilian (this is a really long haul vehicle, so some degree of room is necessary)

Volume for crew and passengers: 72 m^2 each(2nd class) x 8 = 576 Hexes (or 768 m^3)

Common Areas
Galley: 18 Hexes (13.5 m^3)
Lounge/Rec Area: 190 Hexes (142.5 m^3)

Sick Bay
Med Bay: 60 Hexes (45 m^3)
Cryostasis Tubes: 60 Hexes (45 m^3)

Lab
Assay Lab and rock locker with stab & tag gear: 175 Hexes (131.3 m^3)
(An important secondary source of income is finding asteroids with marketable mineral content. Kinetic projectile will vaporize a small portion allowing spectroscopic analysis. If worthwhile, a claim transmitter can be driven into the rock and registered with the Central Astroid Mining Authority.)

Supplies
Supply locker: 23 Hexes (17.3 m^3)
(64 person days of supplies per hex, assuming 4 people generally on board, that's 16 days of supplies per hex. One year's worth of supplies would require 23 hexes.)

Gadgets
Sensors: 24 hexes (18 m^3) (I have not yet been able to nail down how to build the sensors, I had forgotten that I was going to come back to it. I'll just list 24 hexes for now.)

Telescope array: 60 hexes (45 m^3)

Communications
Late post atomic: 38
Comm (late post atomic): 9
(Range 0 + 37 Info content)/2 utility: -37
Total: 10
Size: 125 mH (0.1 hex) 62 kg
Parabolic antenna: range 108 (>4 billion km)

Armor
Post Atomic Era base: 23
20,000 hex vehicle: -43
Loaded mass of 10,000 tons - deductions for size and various category sizes leaves: 2,898 tons for armor.
Per the table where 16 tons of armor is a +12 modifer, 8 doublings would be +36, with a -25% for a total of +35.
23-43+35=15 which converts to

Armor= 5d+0 armor

If this all seems right, then all I need to do is figure out the sensors. Then I'll do one more post to wrap up, discussing overall design of the ship (dimensions, general layout, etc.)

The armor and other calcs look correct at first glance. You forgot to mention that this vehicle has a Damage Limit of -6 and 38 hits, so it is immune to basic punctures in terms of actual damage to the vehicle's structure.

You would be able to puncture the hull and perforate vital bits, but it would take a lot of punctures to harm the vessel as a whole.

You would probably use the Fires of Heaven guidelines for space combat and hit locations to make it a more realistic effect if you put it in a ship-level fight.

admin wrote:


I'll take a look at that next. I had been meaning to take Stuff! on a thorough spin first, though. If you don't mind me asking, what's your take on the ship? Any changes you would recommend?

I definitely need to take a look at the FoH ship design system. I wasn't sure how well it would work for interplanetary ships as I haven't looked at it in detail yet.

People may think "oh, only .5g acceleration". But if you can sustain that, you can get anywhere you want in a solar system pretty darn quick. For instance, if Earth and Mars were at maximum separation, at half a gee you could still do the trip in less than a week.

Once we get decent engines, the first missions to Mars are going to be remembered like we remember settlers travelling across America in covered wagons.

As far as the design goes, if you wanted a commercial vessel I'd scrap the armor, with the possible exception of the front facing as meteorite shielding. Your damage limit is high enough to prevent most conventional damage, and your armor is too low to stop penetration by any serious weaponry. So, the armor is just extra mass that cannot be used for profitable cargo. Save the mass, add some external docking ports and a shuttle or workpod or two for extra prospecting duties.

Ah, I didn't think about docking ports or shuttles. I may jigger it a bit and see how it looks.

Can you point me to the page where it talks about sensors? I keep looking but I must keep missing it...

Chapter 4, Gadgets.

admin wrote:


I figured that much. I am evidently unable to find sensors in Chapter 4, unless they're only mentioned obliquely...

Sorry. Didn't know if you were looking only in the Vehicles chapter. A sensor would be a gadget with an Awareness, based on the tech era and a whole slew of modifiers. Is it automatic or does it need a human observer, what kind of range does it have, how much information does it provide, etc. Page 4.10 has a few examples of modifiers useful in a sensor context (a computer and a telescope).

As an FYI, when EABA v2 gets to the powers chapter I'd love your feedback. I hope to have gizmos unified under a single system, whether they are sensors, weapons or whatever. The current system has them as different beasts and I want to streamline it. Making it work as a subset of a larger power system and as a standalone will be the challenge.