Consul class Provincial Trader

Consul class Provincial Trader

Type: AF Free Trader
Category	ACS
Size	400 Tons
Hull Configuration	Cone Hull
Streamlining	Streamlined Hull
Tech Level	TL–9
Engineering
Computer	Model/1
Jump	J-1
Maneuver	1 G
Fuel Treatment	Scoops
Armaments
Hardpoints	4
Offensive	1 3x Beam Laser, 1 3x Missile Launcher, 2 3x Sandcasters
Accommodations
Staterooms	20
Low Berths	11
Personnel
Crew	11
Officers	3
Enlisted	8
High/Mid Passengers	14
Low Passengers	11
Payload
Cargo	210 Tons
Fuel tank	44 Tons
Carried craft	1 4t bay
Construction
Origin	Distant Fringe
Price
Cost	MCr143.658
Statistics
Quick Ship Profile	AF-DS11
Universal Ship Profile	AF-4211111–030000–20003-0
Images
Blueprint	Yes
Illustration	Yes
Source
Canon	Unpublished, fan design
Designer	Adie Alegoric Stewart
Design System	High Guard
Era	1105
Reference	Fan: Adie Alegoric Stewart
Starships are designed with the Classic Traveller format, using High Guard Shipyard v1.13 written by Andrea Vallance.

The Consul class Provincial Trader is a TL–9 mercantile starship.

Please also see: Ships of the Distant Fringe

Description[edit]

It is a vessel with 1-G and J-1 performance with a streamlined Cone Hull.

It carries light armament and a defensive suite.
It ordinarily carries no subcraft, no ship's vehicles, and drones when needed.

The Consul class Provincial Trader is a civilian vessel. It is a commercial transport typically encountered operating within clusters of stars within the Distant Fringe region. It is classified as a merchant vessel and is constructed as a conventional design. Similar designs have been in use from the time the Distant Fringe was first settled.

Image Repository[edit]

A Consul class Provincial Trader.

General Description & Deck Plans[edit]

The Consul class is a streamlined cone with a mean width of 11 meters, a mean height of 12 meters, and a length of around 50 meters, tapering towards the aft of the vessel. There are two lateral engine pods and a raised dorsal section, referred to as the saddle, at the rear of the vessel. Downward-swept airfoil surfaces and tailplanes that give improved atmospheric maneuvering capability are mounted on the sides of the saddle. The bridge and main airlock are forward, the passenger and crew cabins are located centrally, the engineering control room lies aft, and below that are the cryogenic facilities and the ventral airlock. A narrow vehicle hangar, lying between heavy drive machinery, is situated directly aft of the cryo section. The ship has a total enclosed volume of approximately 5,400 cubic meters.

The design is a variant of the Joshim P. Stone class Provincial Trader.
The design is related to the Colossus class Heavy Lander.

A basic deck plan of the vessel indicating the general layout and positioning of major elements.

Basic Ship Characteristics[edit]

Following the Imperial Navy and IISS Universal Ship Profile and data, additional information is presented in the format shown here. The small craft factor indicates the number of squadrons (...of ten subcraft) carried on the ship. Tonnage on the universal ship profile is shown in kilotons (...thousands of tons) where necessary. ^[1]

Basic Ship Characteristics ^[2]
No.	Category	Remarks
1.	Tonnage / Hull	The Provincial Trader is constructed using a 400-dTon hull built in a generally cone-shaped configuration. The hull is fully streamlined and has airfoil surfaces, giving good atmospheric performance that is reliant on its onboard gravitic systems. Individual sections of the ship are divided by bulkhead walls. There are x2 personnel airlocks located fore and aft respectively. The cargo hold is accessed by doors and hatches and has a loading ramp. The vessel has sturdy retractable legs, allowing surface landings.
2.	Crew	Total Crew Complement: x11. x2 command, x1 engineering, x4 gunnery, and x2 service. The vessel carries x2 passenger stewards. Accommodations There are x20 Staterooms. x6 Staterooms are given over to crew quarters. The captains receives an individual cabin: all other crew quarters are double occupancy. x14 Staterooms are available to passengers. Typically, x2 of these staterooms are set aside as a comfortable lounge, a galley, entertainment facilities, and office space, leaving 12 staterooms available for paying passengers. There are x10 Low Berths, typically used for transporting livestock. They are tended by the vessel's steward. Accessible areas of the hull are fitted with grav plates and inertial compensators and have full life support and environmental systems. There are internal monitoring and security systems throughout the vessel. Sections of the ship can be isolated in the event of an emergency. There are multiple Emergency Lockers.
3.	Performance	The vessel mounts a DeVoss-type Jump-1 drive, a Maneuver-1 drive and a Power Plant-1, giving performance of jump-1, 1-G acceleration and producing 4 Energy Points. The ship has an agility rating of 0 and an emergency agility of 1. The internal fuel tankage is sufficient for one Jump-1 and gives the power plant 4 weeks duration. The engineering section has a main control room. Ladders, gantries and platforms give access to the machinery. The jump drive utilizes a hull grid. The jump drive is fitted with a jump governor.
4.	Electronics	Adjacent to the bridge is a Model/1 Computer: there is no backup computer. There are multiple workstations and control points throughout the vessel. The vessel is fitted with communications equipment, a standard sensor array, and has an Avionics suite. It has a transponder unit that can be deactivated on command.
5.	Hardpoints	x4 hardpoints. The listed battery groupings are considered standard for the class. Alternative battery groupings may be designated for specific routes.
6.	Armament / Weaponry	The normal weapons fit-out for a Consul class is: x1 triple Beam Laser turret, firing as an independent battery. x1 triple Missile turret, firing as an independent battery. Each missile rack mounts x3 standard Anti-Shipping Missiles.
7.	Defenses	The hull is unarmored. x2 triple Sandcaster turrets, grouped into one battery of 2 linked turrets. The vessel is not fitted with screens or other passive defensive systems.
8.	Craft / Drones	The ship has a dedicated hangar able to house a vehicle of up to 4-dTons, though no vehicles are ordinarily provided. The hangar may be used as an auxiliary airlock.
9.	Fuel Treatment	The vessel has internal fuel tankage of 44.0 dTons. The hull is fitted with fuel scoops. The vessel is not equipped with fuel purification equipment.
10.	Cost	The basic cost of the vessel is MCr143.658. The craft is a standard design. Detailed architectural plans are widely available and no design fee is chargeable. If multiple examples of the design are ordered all of the ships in the production run qualify for a 20% discount, which reduces the price per unit to MCr114.927.
11.	Construction Time	64 weeks (16 months) as standard. Build times can be reduced by mass production and the efficiencies such processes generate, by increased financing, and by allotting additional yard resources and facilities to the construction contract.
12.	Remarks	Standard cargo capacity amounts to 210 dTons. The cargo hold can be subdivided into sections using removable partition walls. It has independent life support and environmental systems. It can be sealed and isolated.

History & Background[edit]

The Provincial Trader is considered underpowered and suffers performance issues in high gravity environments. It is a design that dates to the time of the Terran Confederation: elements of the design and construction indicate that the vessel has Vilani origins. The design is representative and a large number of variants exist, particularly with regard to the allotted weapons systems, onboard electronics, and the fit out of internal spaces.

Distant Fringe Vessels[edit]

The Distant Fringe is said to be a far spinward-rimward area inhabited by colonists and refugees originating on Terra. The region is extremely isolated, separated from the rest of Charted Space by vast, almost uncrossable rifts that were once broached by a system of calibration Points and the use of tankers. Those few academics within Charted Space who have found references to the Distant Fringe regard it as little more than a tall tale. Likewise, many of the inhabitants of the Distant Fringe believe the existence of Charted Space to be mythical.^[3]

Vessels originating within the Distant Fringe are very rarely encountered outside of the region. However, misjumps do occur and anomalies with bizarre spacetime and Jumpspace effects exist: as such, craft of this type are not entirely unknown within Charted Space.^[4]

Class Naming Practice/s & Peculiarities[edit]

A number of companies manufacture ships equivalent to the Consul class. They vary in hull shape and internal layout but all share the same basic design and all have very similar capabilities and performance characteristics.

Each variant class is named by the company that produces it: these organizations generally draw on traditional naming protocols. It is not uncommon for a historical class name to be reused.
Individual vessels within a class are issued specific serial numbers and transponder codes but traditionally are named by their owners. This is considered a serious affair and a ship with a frivolous name is considered "unlucky".

Selected Variant Types & Classes[edit]

54 Representative Free Trader (AF) Classes[edit]

§ == ( Please refer to the following AAB Library Data for more information: ) == §

Type AF Free Trader

A

B

C

E

F

G

H

I

Independent Hauler class Far Trader

J

K

Khershwan class Trader

L

Lanthium Petal class Speculative Trader

M

N

P

R

Regni Yards Type A class Free Trader

S

T

U

Unholy Exile class Trader

W

Wulf class Free Trader

References[edit]

This article has metadata.

This ship was originally designed using one of the Classic Traveller ship design rules:

Marc Miller. Starships (Game Designers Workshop, 1977), 12-23.
Marc Miller, Frank Chadwick, John Harshman. High Guard (Game Designers Workshop, 1980), 20-36.

This list of sources was used by the Traveller Wiki Editorial Team and individual contributors to compose this article. Copyrighted material is used under license from Far Future Enterprises or by permission of the author. The page history lists all of the contributions.

Author: Lord (Marquis) and Master Scout Emeritus Adie Alegoric Stewart of the IISS
Contributors: Tony Stroppa, Steve Carr (design concepts and development)

↑ Timothy B. Brown. Fighting Ships (Game Designers Workshop, 1981), 10.
↑ Timothy B. Brown. Fighting Ships (Game Designers Workshop, 1981), 10.
↑ An unpublished factoid written by Maksim-Smelchak
↑ An unpublished factoid written by Maksim-Smelchak

[1] Timothy B. Brown. Fighting Ships (Game Designers Workshop, 1981), 10.

[2] Timothy B. Brown. Fighting Ships (Game Designers Workshop, 1981), 10.

[3] An unpublished factoid written by Maksim-Smelchak

[4] An unpublished factoid written by Maksim-Smelchak

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[2]

[3]

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