Class E Starport

Every system has a port classification grade (A to E, and X) to the starport available in the system. This grade assigned to the port encompasses the services available in the port. A Class E Starport is a frontier quality installation with few expected amenities. There may be unrefined fuel for starships and a limited variety of ship provisions. There is no shipyard of any kind, but there may be parts and technical support for doing minor services and repair. Ports of this classification generally consist of a downport.

It is a Class I facility on the Jackson scale.

Facilities

The number, and in some cases the quality, of the facilities and services depends on the size of the port. For medium or larger ports, all of these services will be available, for small or tiny ports, the facilities will be available but on a best-case availability.

Traffic Control

Traffic control around class E ports is passive, having communications to the 10D limit around the main world and other inhabited worlds in the system. There is a navigation system only around the inhabited worlds. Ships should expect communications regarding course plots only as they enter the airspace zone around the port itself. The communications for the port may be a simple automated beacon, with staffing available only at specific hours.

Ship Services

There are few ship service facilities including some docking facilities. The landing pads may be nothing more than cleared bedrock or packed earth. If there is unrefined fuel available for ships, it is produced by using the world's oceans or lakes as source of raw fuel.

There are limited or no warehouse facilities for cargo. The port crews are minimally trained to manage hazardous or special materials safely. The customs department may have the paperwork for getting cargo into and out of the port, but may require intervention by the ship to ensure prompt delivery of cargo.

There are are no shipyard facilities available at the port. There may be a shop in the startown or local cities with most common parts available for ship crews to perform their own maintenance and repair work.

Passenger services

For passengers there will be an simple building with minimal services for passengers. The port connects to local transportation grid for travel to and from the port but only on an irregular or on-demand schedule. Passenger hospitality services like hotels are outside the port either in the startown or other cities.

Emergency services

The port itself contains only minimal emergency services for crash, fire, search, and rescue services, contracting this to the local world. This may take longer to respond to emergencies. The port itself contains an aid station which may or may not be staffed.

Image Repository

1. Starport-E
   
2. Starport-E-SB
   

Construction

Construction of a class E port, because of its minimal nature, can be a relatively quick process. The Starport Authority has a standard kit consisting of two modular cutters to construct a Class E starport. One contains earth moving equipment to clear and flatten the space for a few ships to land. A fence is placed to mark the limits of the port. The other cutter contains an office module which becomes the new port's headquarters building, and in some cases is the only building. The 50 ton module contains three staterooms, an office space about the size of a regular stateroom, a power/control room with a small fusion plant and controls for the port communications and landing systems. There is a long range transmitter for port communications.

Several corporations produce similar quick starport construction kits for placing a new class E port on a world. See for example the Prefab Starport.

See also

Starport facilites

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

• Starport Types
  • Spaceport
  • Class A Starport
  • Class B Starport
  • Class C Starport
  • Class D Starport
  • Class E Starport
  • Class F Spaceport
  • Class G Spaceport
  • Class H Spaceport
  • Class X Starport
  • Class Y Spaceport
• Facilities
  • Concourse
  • Extrality
  • Highport
  • Downport
  • Parkbay
  • Star Bar
  • Startown
• Services
  • Imperial Ship Builders Association (ISBA)
  • Naval Architect
  • Starport Authority
  • Travellers' Aid Society (TAS)
  • Travelling Society
  • Trader's Guild
  • Travellers' Naval Architecture Society (TNAS)

References

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.

• Marc Miller. Worlds and Adventures (Game Designers Workshop, 1977), 1,9,10.
• S. L. A. McIntyre. "Port Facilities". White Dwarf 22 (Dec/Jan 1981), 22
• Marc Miller. The Spinward Marches (Game Designers Workshop, 1979), 36.
• John Harshman, Marc Miller, Loren Wiseman. Library Data (N-Z) (Game Designers Workshop, 1982), 23.
• Marc Miller. Scouts (Game Designers Workshop, 1983), 28.
• Thomas M. Price. "Happy Landings: Starport Design in Traveller" White Dwarf 43 (July 1983), 26-28
• Marc Miller. Referee's Manual (Game Designers Workshop, 1987), 19,22,25.
• Terrance McInnes. COACC (Game Designers Workshop, 1989), 74-81.
• Dale L. Kemper. "The Compleat Starport." Far & Away 01 (1990): 20-25.
• J. Andrew Keith. "The Compleat Starport Supplementary Material For Megatraveller." Starships, Starports & Vehicles Vol. 1 No. 3 (October 1990), 1-5
• Kevin Knight. "House Rules." Traveller Chronicle 04 (1994): 28-37.
• J. Andrew Keith. Starport Planetfall (Cargonaut Press, 1998), 9-10.
• Carl Warmsley. Starports (Mongoose Publishing, 2011), 42-65.
• John Watts, Tony Hicks. 21 Starport Places (Gypsy Knights Games, 2013), 7-75.
• Martin Dougherty. Going Portside (Mongoose Publishing, 2016), 6-18.
• Marc Miller, Robert Eaglestone, Don McKinney. Starships (Far Future Enterprises, 2019), 22-29.
• Marc Miller, Robert Eaglestone, Don McKinney. Worlds and Adventures (Far Future Enterprises, 2019), 24.