Communications Vessel

Line Combatants (Primary - Capital)				Escort Combatants (Secondary - Subcapital)				Military Auxiliary (Tertiary)
B- Battleship	C- Cruiser	O- Ortillery	V- Carrier	D- Destroyer	E- Escort	F- Fighter	H- Defense/Security	I- Combat Transport	Q- Combat Support	S- Scout	U- Utility	X- Commo	Z- Special

Mercantile Commercial Ships (Trade & Profit)				Non-Mercantile Commercial Ships (Industry & Profit)					Non-Commercial Ships (Nonprofit)			System Craft (Intrastellar)
A- Tramp	M- Freighter	R- Liner	T- Transport	G- Industrial	J- Prospector	K- Expedition	P- Corsair	U- Utility	L- Science	N- Medical	Y- Private	WB- Barge	WA- Satellite	WO- Space Station

X-class Communications Vessels serve communication functions throughout Charted Space.

• The grouping includes X-boats, X-boat Tenders, Courier Vessels, Relay Boats, Packet Boats, and many other kinds of communications vessels.
• The Supraclass designation is also known as Ship Mission, Ship Mission Code, Mission, or Ship Hull Designation.
• It is a starship supraclass.

Library Data Referral Tree

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

• Starship User Types
  • Civilian Ship
  • Military Ship
  • Non-Commercial Vessel
  • Paramilitary Ship

• Advanced Ship Classifications
  • Ship Mission Code / Supraclass
  • Ship Type Code / Superclass
  • Ship Class Code / Class
  • Model (TL)
  • Bloc (Lot)

• Basic Ship Classifications
  • Adventure Class Ship
  • Battle Class Ship
  • Capital Ship
  • Fleet Class Ship
  • Size-Role Classification
  • Subcapital Ship
  • QSP
  • USP
  • World Class Ship

• Ships by Function
  • Bigcraft
  • Boat
  • Capital Ship
  • Largecraft
  • Non-starship
  • Smallcraft
  • Spaceplane
  • Spaceship
  • Starship
  • Subcapital Ship
  • Subcraft
  • System Craft
  • Warship

Speed of Travel

• Astronomical Unit (AU)
• FTL
• Light Speed (c)
• Light-week (lw)
• Light-year (ly)
• NAFAL (STL)
• Parsec (pc)

Description (Specifications)

Communications Vessels is a ship hierarchy category that covers a variety of vessels that have a primary mission of conducting communications and connecting mainworlds and/or fleets. Not every polity has a well developed X-boat system, but every polity uses starships to conduct communications missions, varying electronic messages, couriers, diplomats, envoys, and a variety of sophont messengers as well as message mediums.

Image Repository

1. A typical Purcell class Express Boat Tender, one of the prototypical Express Boat Tenders.
   
2. A top down image of the most common Imperial Armed Packet in a common livery.
   
3. An image of a Xavier class Express Boat.
   
4. The familiar wedge-shaped Messenger class Commercial Courier.
   

Strategy & Tactics (Doctrine)

Communications Vessels are rarely armed or armored. They are combat multipliers meant to affect battles by getting the right information and intelligence to the right forces at the right time. Every combatant fleet protects its auxiliaries and its communications lines, commo vessels included. When engaged, the commo vessel has only two choices, run as fast as possible, or hopefully hide out in jumpspace if the jump drives are charged and ready.

Supraclass Roles

Communication Vessels typically serve the following roles:
Largecraft & Bigcraft:

1. Armored Packet (XUA)
2. Commercial Courier (XCL)
3. Communications Vessel (X) (Namesake)
4. Courier Vessel (XC)
5. Diplomatic Courier (XUD)
6. Dispatcher (XC)
7. Far Courier (XCL))
8. Express Courier (XCF)
9. Fast Courier (XCF)
10. Fleet Courier (XCF)
11. Fleet Dispatch Courier (XUD)
12. Frontier Courier (XCL)
13. Long Range Fleet Courier (XCF)
14. Messenger Ship (XU)
15. Packet Boat (XU)
16. Relay Boat (XC)
17. X-Boat (XB)
18. X-Boat Tender (XT or VXT)

Size-Class Roles for Communications Vessels

1. Communications Craft (UQX) (1 to 99 tons)
2. Light Communications Vessel (XL) (100 to 999 tons)
3. Medium Communications Vessel (XM) (1,000 to 1,499 tons)
4. Heavy Communications Vessel (XH) (1,500 to 2,499 tons)
5. Super Heavy Communications Vessel (XS) (2,500 or more tons)

Civilian Subcraft

Civilian subcraft (...both smallcraft and bigcraft) are carried by some of these vessels:

1. Barge (WB)
2. Utility Craft (U)

Supraclass Archetypal Roles

These vessels typically serve the following archetypal roles:

Selected Communications Vessel Archetypes
Archetype	Type Code/s	Exemplar	Remarks
Communications Vessel	X (Namesake)	Type X class Express Boat	Charted Space possesses no FTL communications devices or ansibles. Thus, communications is generally limited to a pony express type of communications network, as in a network of couriers, packets, and the like. The Third Imperium maximized the efficiency of its courier system by developing X-boats, ships dedicated solely to communications functions, but there are other solutions used by other polities: relay systems, fleet couriers, postal unions, military express messengers, X-mail, etc. X = eXchange
X-Boat	XB	Xavier class Express Boat	The Express Boat (…also called an xboat) is a small, fast ship filled with a pilot compartment, message data banks, and jump drives. The fit is so tight that there is no room even for maneuver drives. Each is capable of Jump-4 (…four parsecs per week); it jumps, relays its messages to the station on arrival, and then waits to be picked up by a tender, to be refuelled and sent on its way with a new load of messages. The local station, meanwhile, accepts messages, encodes them, and transmits them to a tender at the edges of the stellar system. Messages brought by the arriving xboat and intended for further down the line are consolidated with the new data and all are sent on to another xboat already fuelled and standing ready to leave. The entire network operates like the pony express — messages are always moving at top speed. Transfer time for messages from one xboat to another can be as short as ten minutes, and is rarely more than an hour. B = Boat
Courier Vessel	XC	Yetsabl class Courier	Courier Vessels are communications ships, ships intended to carry communications in a universe where communications are limited to the speed of travel. C = Courier
Heavy Communications Vessel	XH	TBD class TBD	None
Light Communications Vessel	XL	TBD class TBD	None
Medium Communications Vessel	XM	TBD class TBD	None
Super Heavy Communications Vessel	XS	TBD class TBD	None
X-Boat Tender	XT or VXT	Purcell class Express Boat Tender	The express boat system would not work without the express boat tender. These tenders, stationed in each system that express boats stop at, serve two purposes. First, they tend express boats, recovering them when they arrive, refueling them and repairing minor problems, and then sending them on their way. Second, they serve as a relay station between the planetary surface based message center and the express boat itself. Messages are forwarded to the tender for transmittal to the xboat just before it leaves for the next star system. T = Tender
Packet Boat	XU	Xerxes class Armed Packet Ship	Packet Ships conduct similar missions to liners and courier vessels. They are generally understood to perform unscheduled missions where postal routes do not exist. Most are equipped with mail vaults and secure staterooms. Vessels such as Armed Packet (UF-CA33) perform unscheduled passenger service for those in a hurry. The crew can be trusted, but these little ships can still find themselves jumping into harm's way. Generally, packet trade is any regularly scheduled cargo, passenger, and X-mail trade conducted by space or starship. The ships are sometimes called "packet boats"—in the same manner as IISS communications craft are called "x-boats"—since their original function was to carry x-mail. However, in modern times they only supplement the official system. While "packet" can mean any small parcel, its usage here most likely comes from its meaning during the pre-spaceflight Terran Age of Sail, where it meant a parcel of important correspondence—usually governmental—or valuable items for urgent delivery. U = commUnication
Communications Craft	UQX	TBD class TBD	None
NOTES: There is semantic overlap between many of the classes and codes. Some codes organize by mission or capability, others by size and tonnage, and yet others by other characteristics.

History & Background (Dossier)

Charted Space possesses no FTL communications devices or ansibles. Thus, communications is generally limited to a pony express type of communications network, as in a network of couriers, packets, and the like. The Third Imperium maximized the efficiency of its courier system by developing X-boats, ships dedicated solely to communications functions, but there are other solutions used by other polities: relay systems, fleet couriers, postal unions, military express messengers, X-mail, etc..

Selected Variant Types & Classes

Paramilitary Vessel - Express Boats:

• Type X class Express Boat
  • Type XM class Interplanetary Express Boat
  • Type XSS class Express Solar Sailor
  • Xavier class Express Boat

Paramilitary Vessel - Courier Vessels:

• Type XC class Courier Vessel
  • Gepard class Express Courier
  • Giciifichu class Dispatcher
  • Messenger class Commercial Courier
  • Thorez class Courier
  • Zofagic class Utility Vessel

Paramilitary Vessel - Express Boat Tenders:

• Type XT class Express Boat Tender
  • Lirshala class Express Boat Tender
  • Purcell class Express Boat Tender

Communication Vessel - Packet Ship: Civilian ship - Communication Vessel - Packet Ship:

1. Type XU class Packet Ship
   1. Mercury class Long Range Fleet Courier
   2. Rapid class Fleet Courier

Ship Summary List

Some of the most commonly used vessels in this role include:

0 Representative Communication Vessel (X) Classes
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0 Representative Express Boat (XB) Classes
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0 Representative Courier Ship (XC) Classes
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0 Representative Express Boat Tender (XT) Classes
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0 Representative Packet Ship (XU) Classes
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0 Representative Communications Craft (UX) Classes
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References & Contributors (Sources)

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• This article is an amalgamation of many different materials published since 1977.
• Traveller Wiki Editorial Team
• Author & Contributor: Lord (Marquis) and Master of Sophontology Maksim-Smelchak of the Ministry of Science