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traveller:spacecraft

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Spacecraft Guide

The following lists commercial Solomani spacecraft common to each technology level.

Technology Level 10

Spacecraft which pre-date jump drives.

Olympus Frigate (450dt)

The Olympus is a typical TL 10 design, a 50m long cylinder 12m in diameter, with main drives at the rear and command and control in an external bridge towards the front. Weapon systems are arrayed along the length.

It is a combat vessel designed for escort and support duties within a system. Lacking a jump drive, it must rely on jump tenders to reach other systems. Its combat effectiveness is much higher because of this however, and it was one of the most common light military vessels of the period.

Later variants tend to swap rail guns and mass drivers for laser weapon systems, or possible extra missile launchers. Early in TL10, lasers were still expensive and mostly untested in real combat. Having such a wide range of different weapon types in such a small ship increases maintenance and supply costs.

Zeus Heavy Cruiser (2500dt)

The Zeus is a bulky cylindrical design, 80m in length, 32m wide and 16m tall. The bottom of the ship bristles with heavy missile turrets, with beam and rail guns mounted on the side and top respectively.

One of the largest type of military craft available at this technology level. It is a cruiser class vessel, designed for deep patrol and rapid response.

It's main armament consists of 8 missile launchers, with a total of 64 heavy missiles. General tactics are to try and destroy targets at a distance with missiles, before closing to use beam lasers and rail guns. Designed to use these sorts of tactics makes it strictly a military vessel, not designed for boarding actions or customs checks.

Eagle

The Eagle class Bulk Freighter is an ugly block design. The oversized engines at the rear, kept external to the hull to simplify shielding, are quite distinctive. It mounts two heavy turrets on top (one fore, one aft) for basic defence.

One of the earliest interstellar freighters that was built in Sol shipyards following the Long Night, the Eagle class (and its many variants) stayed around for several hundred years before being superseded by newer and better designs.

Capable of carrying 500dt of cargo, and having a jump range of 1 parsec, it was an expensive way to ship goods around, but it was the best available at the time.

Fitted with two dorsal mounted heavy turrets, the Eagle has some defensive capability. It's low thrust and limited range greatly reduce it's ability to run from attackers however, and it was often seen as a juicy target if found in less secure systems.

Technology Level 11

Albatross

Condor

Heron

Kestrel

Partridge

Shrike

Swallow

traveller/spacecraft.1387804898.txt.gz · Last modified: 2013/12/23 13:21 by sam