The following Small Craft List was compiled by Robert Eaglestone for the Citizens of the Imperium Forum. I use it here as a convenient listing to link all the small craft that I modeled (and will model) together. I might rip the List apart to have only a craft index here in the future and place the lines for each craft inside the corresponding craft’s article post. However I just got permission to leave it here as it is, and I think it’s  very convenient like this.

All craft were designed by Robert Eaglestone („robject“ on CotI) solely using Traveller5’s Adventure-Class Ships design system, with no modifications. Direct link to the original post with the file: Traveller 5 Small Craft List.pdf (CotI Login required).

NOTES: B = Lift Body. C = Cramped Bridge. K = Cargo Lock. L0 = Short Term Life Support. L2 = Long Term

Life Support. S = Spacious Bridge. +5 = Overtonnage by 5 tons.

Vol.  Volume, in tons.

Name.  Official name for the small craft.

TL. Technological Level at which this ship is manufactured.

Free.  Open, configurable space, in tons.

Gs.  Acceleration, in gravities.

Fuel/Duration.  Fuel tank size, and operational time given a full tank.

MCr.  Price of small craft in millions of credits.

Computer.  Computer model installed by default.

Well I had this model for a while. But it lacked a certain something. Now what might that be? Interior? Landing gear? A mounted Weapon? Drive exhaust trails? A Pilot?

Let’s have a look…

20ton Gig WIP 01

I could be color.

This is a larger 30ton variant. But you get the idea. I’m on a mission to texture all my existing models.

The Modular Cutter is a versatile craft. However in some cases the circular cross section is not optimal. The images below show a Cutter with a module that features a rectangular cross section almost over it’s entire length. Only the end „caps“ with the landing gear and cutter’s connectors as well as the overhead fixtures remain the same as on any other module. It is an unstreamlined module however.

The Container Module has 35 tons and affects the performance of the cutter by reducing accelleration by 1g. The image below shows the same module with an optional AeroCowl installed, that partially streamlines the module and provides better handling capabilities in an atmosphere. The cowl can be installed by two workers within 30 minutes, provided they have access to some lifting device or a forklift.

 Various Variants

Imperiallines

Navy

Navy 2

Navy 3

More to come…

Based on my 30ton Ships Boat Model with a slightly shortened hull, this winged boat has much greater cargo capacity than the Ship’s Boat at the cost of accelleration.

Texture variant „Imperiallines“

Texture Variant „Navy“

It features the same landing gear as the Boat or Cutter, is based on a 5m diameter hull with a slightly elongated nose cone.

The container visible in the Render above is a 4 dton Container measuring 6m x 3m x 3m. All three craft are designed to be loaded with this container in mind. Of course a lot of capacity is wasted carrying containers due to the circular cross section, Except for the slow boat whose cargobay rear of the loading gate has a rectangular crossection.

30ton Slow Cargo Boat w Container Extension (closed)

However loading two of these boxes side by side would be a very tight fit there too. Considering this the Rhaan Interstellar variant of this craft has side loading gates at the rear section too. These are complemented by loading davits that hoist one container into the bay on each side. The container however needs to be placed beneath the wings with the cargo gates open.

All „tubular“ Traveller RPG small craft follow the same basic layout. Maybe I should to try to explain…

The bow section houses cockpit, sensors, computer, fresher, weapon control and airlock, next to the center is either a passenger compartment or the cargo bay, wich is always located in front of the powerplant housed in the rear section just in front of the maneuver drive. Front and rear are seperated by bulkheads. Fuel and piping or wiring, safety equipment and sometimes more storage space is located beneath the deck. Wings, fins and the like were also used as a distinguishing feature.

Here are deckplans that illustrate the concept (not this particular craft):
http://juliahwest.com/Traveller/Peter_Vernon/smallcraft.html

Typical craft were a small 20ton Launch, the larger 30ton Boat, an even larger 40ton Pinnace and at 50ton the Cutter, each with several slow, fast or modular variants. These are very typical Traveller subcraft dating back to the mid 70ies. ☺

Today I grabbed Zozer’s Star Trader from DriveThruRPG.com (at less than 5 bucks a bargain, I’d say). And I plan to play a tiny series of adventure trading using that game. I printed it out in EU A5 size to match the format of the LBBs. I plan to play a potentially unhealthy mix of T5 and Classic Traveller with Book 2+ Rules, some house rules and a bit of handwaveium. What ever I use I will document that ion the project site.

Using this I will try to illustrated some (probably only very few) ships or perhaps even scenes to support my star trader’s diary.

My reference material will be…

1. Star Trader by Zozer Games
2. a few 6 sided Traveller dice
3. travellermap.com
4. Traveller deckplans from the web
5. a spreadsheet on my tablet (google tables)
6. some pregenerated characters (which will be described)
7. http://eaglestone.pocketempires.com

And last and hopefully not least „imagination“. I want to play a trader on the edge. Maybe a smuggler or a pitential pirate. One who skips maintenance repairs, crew salaries and is otherwise quite nice. He’s not Mal Reynolds but Firefly flaor will certainly touch this solo game.

I recently updated the article about my 50ton Modular Cutter setting out a module and ATV. Have a look…

Modular Cutter w ContModule

Patrol Cruiser

Modular Cutter

Module Setout

Various Small Craft

Research Pinnace

More to come…

Now that I am addressing Classic Traveller small craft again, the 20dt Launch was just begging to be built from the basic ship’s boat frame.

20ton Launch

The 30ton Ship’s Boat and 20ton Launch share the same diameter hull and front section. As visible at the cockpit window configuration these craft have three windows out front. The 50ton Modular Cutter and the 40ton Research Pinnace however share a 6m diameter hull and the same front section to. These cockpits have four windows out front.

After I made a modular Cutter about two years ago, I planned to do all the standard Small Craft. I sort of relauched that project recently. This is the current State of the Ship’s Boat.

30ton Ship’s Boat Combi Configuration

I think I will need the finished boat for the 600ton Subsidized Liner, that’s also on my workbench atm. But both vessels are far from complete.

The 30ton Ship’s Boat and 20ton Launch share the same diameter hull and front section. As visible at the cockpit window configuration these craft have three windows out front. The 50ton Modular Cutter and the 40ton Research Pinnace however share a 6m diameter hull and the same front section to. These cockpits have four windows out front.

30ton Ships Boat Double Cargo Gate Configuration

The image below shows two updated models above the Slow Boat.

The Subsidized Liner comes in several variants. The most common being the standard Stellar-Class and the slightly modified Bastien-Class Liners. There is a supplement by Loren Wiseman on RPGNow detailing the ship in four variants, including Deckplans and Adventure Seeds.

I have a problem with this ship, or – to be precise – with it’s subcraft. According to TNE it sports a 10ton launch (a life boat by CT definition or customs) , CT assigns a 20ton launch so well, why not a 30 ton ships boat? Nah, just kidding, but at the time the rendering was done, only the Ships Boat model was in a representable condition.

I will likely model the basic liner and at least the Mercenary Cruiser variant (similar to the ship detailed in the MegaTraveller Supplement Assignment: Vigilante available via RPGNow).

The image below shows a popular depiction of the Liner (well popular in my book). The subcraft Dock is normaly located beneath the main fuselage.

There are still a few models I am eager to make and the Liner is no exception. It is in the very early stages of blocking out the vessel, but a tiny preview is due taday. See… but wait… that’s a Ship’s Boat and it’s in a cradle on top of the hull. What the hell am I up to?

Below: an older image now superceeded by the above.

And that’s it for now. Cheers.

Tiny update on that craft. I already had the combi-variant with a cargo compartment behind the passenger compartment. But I figured a passenger only „shuttle“ variant and a pure cargo variant would be nice too. So here are all three.

The 30ton Ship’s Boat and 20ton Launch share the same diameter hull and front section. As visible at the cockpit window configuration these craft have three windows out front. The 50ton Modular Cutter and the 40ton Research Pinnace however share a 6m diameter hull and the same front section to. These cockpits have four windows out front.