Ship's Hardpoint

A Ship's Hardpoint is a semi-standardized ship mounting, generally intended for mission important equipment such as weaponry, defensive devices, or other important equipment.

• Different kinds of turrets are typically emplaced on a hardpoint mounting.
• And weaponry is typically emplaced within turrets, which are in turn located on a hardpoint mounting.
• It is a kind of Ship Equipment.

Library Data Referral Tree

Please refer to the following AAB Library Data for more information:

• Heavy Weaponry / Ship Weapons
  • Offensive Technologies
    • Starship Weaponry
      • Energy Weapons
      • Guided Weapons
      • Projectile Weapons
    • Weapon Mounts
      • Battery
      • Barbette
      • Bay
      • Hardpoint
      • Spinal Mounts
      • Turret
    • Weapon Types
      • DEW
      • GUW
      • KEW

Description (Specifications)

Armaments: Any ship may have one hardpoint per 100 tons of ship. Designation of a hardpoint requires no tonnage, and costs Cr100,000. Hardpoints may be left unused if desired.

• A hardpoint usually includes one ton of internal volume set aside for fire control.
• Some or all of this volume may be physically close to the turret and typically includes rotator gear, the weapon mounts, power transfer systems, computer linkages, control panels, a Master Fire Director, dedicated sensor arrays and commo systems, a fire control computer, additional ammunition and loading equipment as appropriate, a gunner's position, and emergency and damage control equipment.

Selected Hardpoint Equipment

Some of the most commonly employed hardpoint equipment includes:

• Beam Laser B (beam laser)
• Missile Rack M (missile launcher)
• Pulse Laser P (pulse laser)
• Sandcaster S (sandcaster)

This equipment is typically mounted in a Ship’s Turret.

History & Background (Dossier)

The first ship’s, generally spaceships, created in the TL:7-9 epoch largely carried custom-mounted, mission-specific equipment in fixed mounts. As a true intrasystem and later interstellar economy grew, the need for flexible ships, equipment, and ease of construction and maintenance led to various kinds of standardized hardpoints being developed. These were accompanied by semi-standardized, yet customizable, jump drives, maneuver drives, ship’s computers, and other equipment. This approach to manufacturing made ship maintenance and servicing far less complex. Most shipwrights use standardized components, and standardized ship designs as much as possible. There is an economy of scale involved with these design philosophies.

References & Contributors (Sources)

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 Mongoose Publishing or by permission of the author. The page history lists all of the contributions.

• Marc Miller. Starships (Game Designers Workshop, 1977), 14-23.
• Traveller Wiki Editorial Team
• Author & Contributor: Lord (Marquis) and Master of Sophontology Maksim-Smelchak of the Ministry of Science