Difference between revisions of "Comet Coffin class Low Transport"
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* It is a [[civilian ship]] and a [[Low Transport Liner]]. | * It is a [[civilian ship]] and a [[Low Transport Liner]]. | ||
* It is a [[Passenger Liner]] specialized in mass [[low passage]] travel. | * It is a [[Passenger Liner]] specialized in mass [[low passage]] travel. | ||
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== Description ([[Specifications]]) == | == Description ([[Specifications]]) == | ||
The Comet Coffin can be thought of as an interstellar equivalent to mass transit. It is intended for cheap [[Low Passage|low transport]] of many [[sophont]]s at once, where there is not enough traffic to support a massive [[colony ship]], especially where multiple back-and-forth trips instead of transporting everyone at once is acceptable. The ship's capacity of 60 is intended as modular: many routes only have enough passengers to support one Comet Coffin, while routes supporting growing colonies can add more as they grow (until using a much larger ship becomes economical). Likewise, sudden surges in one-time transportation needs (such as evacuation of a planet, or establishing a new colony) can be accommodated by diverting nearby Comet Coffins from their normal routes, which they return to afterward, keeping them in profitable operation until the next sudden surge. | The Comet Coffin can be thought of as an interstellar equivalent to mass transit. It is intended for cheap [[Low Passage|low transport]] of many [[sophont]]s at once, where there is not enough traffic to support a massive [[colony ship]], especially where multiple back-and-forth trips instead of transporting everyone at once is acceptable. The ship's capacity of 60 is intended as modular: many routes only have enough passengers to support one Comet Coffin, while routes supporting growing colonies can add more as they grow (until using a much larger ship becomes economical). Likewise, sudden surges in one-time transportation needs (such as evacuation of a planet, or establishing a new colony) can be accommodated by diverting nearby Comet Coffins from their normal routes, which they return to afterward, keeping them in profitable operation until the next sudden surge. | ||
Revision as of 00:23, 20 August 2019
| Comet Coffin class Low Transport | |
|---|---|
 The Frozen Bus | |
| Type: RP Low Transport Liner | |
| Category | ACS |
| Size | 100 Tons |
| Hull Configuration | Slab Hull |
| Streamlining | Streamlined Hull |
| Tech Level | TL–14 |
| Engineering | |
| Computer | Model/4 bis |
| Jump | J-3 |
| Maneuver | 2 G |
| Armaments | |
| Hardpoints | 1 |
| Accommodations | |
| Staterooms | 0 |
| Personnel | |
| Crew | 3 |
| Enlisted | 3 |
| High/Mid Passengers | 0 |
| Payload | |
| Cargo | 1 Tons |
| Fuel tank | 0 Tons |
| Construction | |
| Origin | Third Imperium |
| Manufacturer | [[General Products]] |
| Year Operational | 601 |
| End of Service | Examples still operate post-Collapse |
| Price | |
| Cost | MCr46.9805. MCr42.28245 in quantity. |
| Architect fee | MCrAdrian Tymes |
| Statistics | |
| Quick Ship Profile | RP-AS23 |
| Images | |
| Blueprint | Yes |
| Illustration | No |
| Source | |
| Also see | Low Berth - Low Passage |
| Canon | Published, fan design |
| Era | Third Imperium |
| Reference | EXTERNAL LINK: MGT Forums |
| Designed with Mongoose Traveller High Guard rules, but portable to other versions. | |
The Comet Coffin class Low Transport is mercantile starship.
- It is a civilian ship and a Low Transport Liner.
- It is a Passenger Liner specialized in mass low passage travel.
Description (Specifications)
The Comet Coffin can be thought of as an interstellar equivalent to mass transit. It is intended for cheap low transport of many sophonts at once, where there is not enough traffic to support a massive colony ship, especially where multiple back-and-forth trips instead of transporting everyone at once is acceptable. The ship's capacity of 60 is intended as modular: many routes only have enough passengers to support one Comet Coffin, while routes supporting growing colonies can add more as they grow (until using a much larger ship becomes economical). Likewise, sudden surges in one-time transportation needs (such as evacuation of a planet, or establishing a new colony) can be accommodated by diverting nearby Comet Coffins from their normal routes, which they return to afterward, keeping them in profitable operation until the next sudden surge.
The ship looks like a giant flying coffin with a rounded front and back, placing it somewhere between a cylinder hull and a slab hull. It is designed to be able to land where there are no starports, such as at a town in need of evacuation (under circumstances where the local starports may be unable to handle evacuation traffic) or on an as-yet-uninhabited world. While in practice it rarely does so, as of 1105 millions of sophonts have survived because of this feature, where they otherwise could not have been evacuated before whatever they were fleeing razed their former location.
Between the autodocs handling revival, the medical bay for boosted facilities, and the ship's computer overwatching freezing and revival procedures, any human in good health will survive being revived from a Comet Coffin's low berths. Anyone else merely has a good chance. (Some ships are tuned to other races, e.g. the crew of a Comet Coffin in the Vargr Extents will adjust its low berths so any Vargr in good health will survive, and any human or other alien has a good chance). If they die, they do so already inside an autodoc capable of reviving the dead. Comet Coffins' are among the safest low berths in Charted Space, and their crews charge a premium for it when they can. Almost all Comet Coffins tune all of their low berths for one particular sophont race, though some (especially those operating near the border between the Third Imperium and the Vargr Extents, or the Solomani Confederation and either the Aslan Hierate or the Hive Federation) carry a dedicated mix, especially if they expect to carry less than a full 60 passengers per trip but expect a substantial minority of said race.
The five autodocs can each revive or freeze one passenger at a time, typically taking about 5 minutes each way, meaning a full load of passengers can transfer in or out of the ship in about an hour.
Image Repository
Not available at this time.
General Description & Deck Plans
- Deck Plans for this vessel.
Basic Ship Characteristics
Following the Imperial Navy and IISS Universal Ship Profile and data, additional information is presented in the format shown here. [1]
| Basic Ship Characteristics [2] | ||
|---|---|---|
| No. | Category | Remarks |
| 1. | Tonnage / Hull | Tonnage: 100 tons (standard). 1400 cubic meters. Streamlined Slab Hull.
|
| 2. | Crew | Crew: 1 Pilots, 1 Astrogator, 1 Medic. The design provides 2 staterooms on the assumption there will usually be 2 crew, with the astrogator role usually fulfilled by the pilot or medic. |
| 3. | Performance | Acceleration: 2-G maneuver drive installed.
|
| 4. | Electronics | Model/4/bis. |
| 5. | Hardpoints | 1 hardpoint, unused. |
| 6. | Armament | None. |
| 7. | Defenses | None. |
| 8. | Craft | None. Vacc suits required for EVA (extra-vehicle activity). One Rescue Ball for crew escape normally carried. In the event of ship destruction, the ship's low berths are designed to be able to float independently (assuming they survive whatever destroyed the ship) with 24 hours of independent power supply. |
| 9. | Fuel Treatment | It is typically equipped with a fuel purification plant and fuel scoops. |
| 10. | Cost | MCr46.9805 (no architect's fees, as they were considered fully amortized by the end of the Civil War). MCr42.28245 in quantity. |
| 11. | Construction Time | 12 months standard, 9 in quantity, largely because most of the ship's systems (especially the low berths) are designed to be constructed in parallel, at different shipyards if necessary. |
| 12. | Remarks | A liner designed to ship 60 low passengers at a time. |
History & Background (Dossier)
The Comet Coffin was originally conceived of when the colonization of Ficant (world) illustrated sudden surges in transportation demand. The first of the line was readied in time to assist with that effort. The Civil War shortly thereafter underscored this demand, and a small Imperial contract was set up (by bureaucrats wanting to promote their affairs as concerned entirely with civilian welfare, so as to not support or obstruct any side) to partially offset increased production.
About 20 years after this class entered service, one of the mergers that resulted in General Products was justified in part by more efficient production of this class to support the demonstrated need. Demand was already beginning to taper off, but the "GOW Project" ("Get (civilians) Out of the Way (of incoming wars)") that funded further construction had already become an institution that would not fully die until the 700s. By then the Comet Coffin was a thoroughly established ship class, that continued to perform its designed function for the Third Imperium.
The economics of this ship class have not varied much since its introduction. It was a high tech marvel at the time of its introduction, and even as of the 1100s when its TL-14 was no longer the height of Imperial technology (that having progressed to TL-15), most shipyards were unable to construct a Comet Coffin's specialist parts (primarily the advanced autodocs). As with most high-TL ships, parts for maintenance were stocked at many class A and B starports, especially ones that expected Comet Coffins to come by for service. A Comet Coffin still under mortgage will typically stick to a "bus" route, of one or two jumps in each direction where it can reliably get a full or nearly full manifest each trip (in at least one direction). From this perspective, surges in demand are short-lived full-manifest routes, to be served as long as the demand is there, building up demand on the route the Comet Coffin used to serve, which results in a short period of fuller manifests (and thus higher profits) than usual upon returning to that route afterward. Once the mortgage is paid off, more speculative routes become profitable.
Some smaller military organizations use mortgage-paid-off Comet Coffins for cheap troop transport, escorted by a tramp freighter carrying the troops' heavy weapons, vehicles, and other gear. "Hot" deployment at their destination is problematic; this approach usually requires a landing zone that can be secured for two hours in order to properly muster the troops (one to revive the troops, one to reunite them with their gear, form them up, and brief them on the current conditions).
Class Naming Practice/s & Peculiarities
Ship Interior Details: Most of the lower deck is given over to what is effectively a small automated warehouse, filled by low berths that can be shuffled around and routed via overhead tracks to any free autodoc as needed. The medical bay and airlock are the only spaces intended for routine manual access. The upper deck is relatively more spacious (not that this is a high bar), about typical for a 100 ton ship.
Some Comet Coffins are named for death or resurrection themes, such as "Phoenix" or "Charon". Most of them, especially the ones in corporate service, only sport their registration numbers.
Selected Variant Types & Classes
References & Contributors (Sources)
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- Marc Miller, Frank Chadwick, John Harshman. High Guard (Game Designers Workshop, 1980), 20-37. (Design Sequence Used)
- EXTERNAL LINK: An Alphabet of Ships
- Traveller Wiki Editorial Team
- Author & Contributor: Adrian Tymes
- Author & Contributor: Lord (Marquis) and Master of Sophontology Maksim-Smelchak of the Ministry of Science
- ↑ Timothy B. Brown. Fighting Ships (Game Designers Workshop, 1981), 10.
- ↑ Timothy B. Brown. Fighting Ships (Game Designers Workshop, 1981), 10.