TDR VEHICLE DESIGN SYSTEM
VERSION 1.0
28 NOVEMBER 1990
ROB DEAN
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Remarks will be delineated with rows of asterisks at the
beginning and end.
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For purposes of this version, all entries will be keyed to the
MegaTraveller Referee's Manual. Deleted sections will be noted,
as will retained sections.
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1: BASIC HULL DESIGN
Volume of Hull=Displacement Tons * 13.5
For Displacement Mass Cost
Less than 1 ton .1t/kl Cr10000/ton
Less than 100 tons .05t/kl Cr2200/ton
Less than 100000tons .02t/kl Cr1300/ton
Over 100000tons .01t/kl Cr600/ton
The following sections remain the same
5:Craft Configuration and Streamlining
6:Planetoid Configurations
7:Armor
8:Minimum Armor
9:Armor
10:Weight and Price
11:Open Vehicle
12:Vehicle Cupola
13:Hull Totals
2: POWER SUPPLY
This section temporarily remains the same, except that the
consumption of radioactives in a fission reactor is given per
month, not per hour.
3: LOCOMOTION
1:Locomotion type: Remains the same
2:Jump Drive capacity Remains the same
3:Jump Units Required:
Jump Number 1 2 3 4 5 6
Percentage of Ship 2 3 4 5 6 7
Multiply the percentage above by the volume of the ship. This
gives your drive volume in kiloliters. Each kiloliter of
drive weighs 2 tons, and costs Cr222,222 (*Suggest roundoff
to 220000*)
4: Jump Fuel Volume
Multiply the volume of the drive by 5 to determine the
quantity of fuel required to make one jump at TL9-TL16.
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I'm not going to worry about non-imperial ultra-tech just now.
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5: Maneuver Drive: Section deleted
6: Thrust Based Suspension
----Per ton of Thrust---- Min
TL Type Power Volume Weight Price Volume
7 Air Cushion 0.10 0.20 0.30 30000 0.010
9 Standard Grav 0.10 0.02 0.04 2000 0.020
9 High Volume Grav 0.10 0.02 0.04 770 5.400
10 Low Power H-Grav 0.02 0.05 0.03 25000 0.020
11 Thrusters 0.11 0.02 0.05 1100 5.400
12 Low Power L-Grav 0.01 0.03 0.02 300000 0.003
7: Contact Based Suspension : No Change
8: Contact Based Transmissions : No change
9: Select Avionics: No change
10: Compute Locomotion totals
4: COMMUNICATORS : No change
5: SENSORS AND ELECTRONICS : No change
6: WEAPONS : No change
7: SCREENS : No change
8: BRIDGE
1: Environmental Controls: No change ***(Yet)***
2: Control Points: Do not figure control points on hull.
Only figure control points based on Power Supply, Locomotion,
Communications, Sensors, Weapons, Screens, and Environmental
Control.
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RATIONALE: As it now stands, two vehicles, such as tanks, that
differ only in their weight of armor require differing quantities
of control points. Since most vehicle hulls (aircraft are an
exception) don't do much but sit there, it doesn't seem like it
should be necessary to use controls on them. I realize that
certain things are included in hull controls, like hood and trunk
releases on your car, but it seems negligible. In almost any
vehicle that is not extremely heavily armored, the contribution
to the total number of control points by the hull is negligible
anyway.
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3: Computers: Remains the same
4: Control Panel Units: Remains the same, except add new rule:
If the total number of control points needed is less than
0.05, no control panel units need be installed. ***(There,
now you can do a skateboard)***
5: Special Control Panel add-ons : Remains the same
6: Electronic circuit protection: Remains the same
7: Compute Controls totals: Remains the same
9: ACCOMMODATIONS
1: Basic Crew Complement: remains the same
2: Vehicle and Small Craft Crew: remains the same
3: Reduced Vehicle Gunners:
Alter formula to X=(C*S)/W
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The Text in this section has always implied that this sort of
formula is correct (i.e. it should be advantageous to have more
sensors.)
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4: Supplanted Vehicle Commander
Alter Formula to X=(T/S)/C
5: Special Vehicle Considerations: remains the same
6: Vehicle Crew Accommodations:
Access Vol Wt Price
Open 0 0.08 50
None 1 0.1 100
Cramped 2 0.1 100
Adequate 3 0.1 100
Roomy 4 0.1 100
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This table now accounts for seating arrangements on tiny vehicles
such as motorcycles, and adds the weight of the passenger into
the seat, which has a substantial impact on very light vehicles,
but little impact on anything larger than a golf cart.
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7: Starship and Spacecraft Crews
Bridge Crew: No change
Engineering Crew: No change
Maintenance Crew: H/C
Gunners: No change
Flight Crew: No change
Ship's Troops: Any number chosen by the designer
Command Crew: Cc=Total crew/6. If over 10, then=10+Cc/10
Stewards: 1 per 8 high passengers
Frozen Watch: No change
Medical Crew: No change
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As the rules currently exist, I think the quantity of command
crew is vastly inflated, which is why I reduce it like the bridge
crew. Most of the really bad inflation comes in when you have
120 or 150 marines on board, and I usually figure that if I have
just decided that there are 150 marines, that includes their
officers and admin personnel. I also don't see the need to add
stewards to the crew when there is a fair amount of slop in the
numbers already. To provide personal service to high paying
passengers, yes. To wait on the crew, no.
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10: FUEL : No change at present
DESIGN EVALUATION
This section can be retained as is, with the following excep-
tions.
Damage: Calculate based on weight, not volume. Also figure in
the factor of ten for personal combat rules to allow more differ-
entiation of vehicles at lower sizes. So new hull values become
Weight/1.5 (inoperative) and Weight*1.7 (Destroyed). Values for
power plant and locomotion are figured as before, on a percentage
of the weight rather than the volume.
For space faring craft, normal acceleration now becomes
thrust/weight. If this value is less than one, the craft cannot
lift off from a standard gravity planet. For operations near a
planetary surface, figure speed of spacecraft based on
(thrust/weight)-1 to account for power required to maintain lift.
Agility is equal to the acceleration available after all other
systems have been powered.
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DRAFT FIXED WING AIRCRAFT DESIGN SEQUENCE
May be used with the suggestions above or separately
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1: Determine size of aircraft in displacement tons
Volume=13.5kl/displacement ton
(or designate it in kl if you prefer)
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2: Choose Airframe type
Weight Price Min Max Equiv
Mult Mult Speed Speed Eff Armor
Simple x0.2 x5 150 300 .85 0
Fast Subsonic x1 x10 160 800 .90 0
Transonic x2 x15 180 1100 .95 1
Supersonic x4 x20 280 2800 1.00 2
Hypersonic x6 x50 350 5000 1.00 3
Multiply base hull weight and cost of chosen hull volume by the
factors given above to get total cost and weight of hull. Armor
of hull is given.
Airframe Enhancements
Price
Weight Multiplier
STOL 0.05 x1.3
VTOL 0.10 x1.5
Seaplane 0.05 x1.25
Reentry 0.10 x5.0
Weight is in tons per kl of aircraft volume. Price multipl
applies to the entire airframe cost.
Maximum Lift of airframe hull in tons=volume in kl *1.35
If total weight of aircraft plus external stores is greater than
maximum lift, or calculated airspeed not at least minimum for
airframe type, aircraft may not take off.
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3: Choose power plant from Referee's Manual
Fission and fusion not available for aircraft
Choose Thrust Agency from table below
TL Type Thrust Fuel Cost Airframe
5 Basic Prop 8 2 5 Fast Sub
6 High Perf Prop 16 3 10 Fast Sub
6 High Perf Turboprop 25 5 20 Fast Sub
6 High Perf Turbojet 30 9 30 Supersonic
6 Basic ramjet 50 40 50 Hypersonic
6 High Perf Ramjet 65 50 60 Hypersonic
6 Basic Rocket 50 80 50 Hypersonic
6 High Perf Rocket 65 100 60 Hypersonic
7 Basic turboprop 20 4 15 Fast Sub
7 Basic Turbojet 25 6.5 25 Supersonic
7 Basic Turbofan 30 7 35 Supersonic
7 High Perf Turbofan 35 8 40 Supersonic
8 High Bypass Turbofan 21 4 12.5 Supersonic
Thrust= MW of powerplant output (-MW used as power for compo-
nents) * Thrust factor above
Fuel Consumption= Normal fuel consumption of chosen power plant *
Fuel factor above
Cost=Normal Cost of powerplant * Cost factor above
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4: Pick armament from tables in COACC. Guns, bomb bays and
turrets count against interior volume fo the craft. External
mounting points do not, except that plumbed hardpoints require
0.01kl internal each.
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5: Acoommodations and life support as per Referee's manual.
Crewmen may be given "no access" seats. Passengers require a
minimum of "cramped". Life support generally only applies to the
volume occupied by the crew, but may be extended to cover the
bomb bays and cargo areas if it is considered desirable to have
access to these during fl;ight.
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6: Controls are installed as per the referee's manual. Control
points based on hull cost should be included.
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7: Evaluate SPeed as per COACC. Agility formula for aircraft
(and grav vheicles) is forthcoming. Damage equals clean
weight/1.5 (inoperative), and Clean weight*1.7 (destroyed). This
is in keeping with the revised design rules.
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