Bathysphere class Prospector's Cutter
| Bathysphere class Prospector's Cutter | |
|---|---|
 Homegrown industrial smallcraft serving as a utility craft. | |
| Type: J Industrial Smallcraft | |
| Category | Smallcraft |
| Size | 60 Tons |
| Hull Configuration | Sphere Hull |
| Streamlining | Streamlined Hull |
| Tech Level | TL–14 |
| Engineering | |
| Computer | Model 1/fib |
| Jump | J-0 |
| Maneuver | 1 G |
| Fuel Treatment | Scoops |
| Armaments | |
| Hardpoints | 1 |
| Offensive | Pulse Laser |
| Accommodations | |
| Staterooms | 2 |
| Personnel | |
| Crew | 3 |
| High/Mid Passengers | 0 |
| Payload | |
| Cargo | 35.4 Tons |
| Fuel tank | 7.5 Tons |
| Construction | |
| Origin | Third Imperium |
| Year Operational | 1046 |
| Price | |
| Cost | MCr22.5562 |
| Statistics | |
| Quick Ship Profile | R-6S10 |
| Images | |
| Blueprint | No |
| Illustration | Yes |
| Source | |
| Canon | Unpublished, fan design |
| Designer | James Kundert |
| Design System | Megatraveller |
| Era | 1105 |
| Reference | Fan: James Kundert |
The Bathysphere class Prospector's Cutter is a TL–14 noncombatant mining smallcraft. It functions as part of the Inar SysDefCom.
Description[edit]
The Bathysphere is a tail-sitter, with its internal decking perpendicular to the direction of thrust. The hull is a 12-meter diameter sphere with the crew area in one deck just below the equator. The upper half is all one cargo hold with the single turret at the top (...connected to the crew deck by an access tube). The entire top half of the hull splits into four hatches hinged at the equator. With all four open the cutter resembles a large flower, but can (...with skilled rope work) almost double its cargo capacity. The bottom half of the sphere contains the drives, fuel, and several smaller cargo compartments.
Image Repository[edit]
- Two Bathysphere class Prospector's Cutters making planetfall.
History & Background[edit]
The Duchy of Inar based out of Inar (Deneb 1213). has a vibrant TL–14 ship building industry, known for innovative designs and clever Naval Architecture. They are best known for their unstreamlined cylinder hull tail-sitter ship designs and sphere hulled smallcraft specialized for star system defense. They also build some of the finest fusion guns and ECM systems in Imperial Space.
It was designed for Sternmetal Horizons in 1046, and entered the general market in 1052. It serves as an alternative to the well-used Seeker-class for belt prospecting. The Bathysphere has all of the cargo capacity of the Seeker (though it lacks a prospector's buggy), without the added expense (and volume) of a Jump Drive.
This design is meant to operate from a central base, which resupplies the cutter and clears its cargo hold for another run. Sternmetal normally operates the so-called "Company Store" Prospector Tender in this roll. This ship can serve 12 cutters, though it usually carries 10 and fills the last two spots with a pair of Bubble class Fuel Cutters (the tender is unstreamlined).
Bathyspheres (...and their tenders) are fairly common within about 12 parsecs of Inar, but are not seen at Inar itself unless being built or serviced, as Inar has no Planetoid Belts.
Selected Variant Types & Classes[edit]
4 Representative Industrial Smallcraft (J) Classes[edit]
References[edit]
| This article has metadata. |
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This ship was originally designed using MegaTraveller ship design rules.
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- Author: James Kundert - GypsyComet's Shipyard