My approach has always been that the "waste" volume in hangarage always
included gantry cranes, overhead trolleys, tracks, etc., and that would
apply to "cargo space" as well. But as you point out, that doesn't give
you much for color, how many tracks, how far apart, etc. The big thing is
the differentiation between true cargo hold and the miscellaneous leftover
space that often passes for "cargo" but really isn't set up to be that
useful. Definitely a notch above the crown molding, chair rail, and
wainscoting design sequence.
Depending on where you're at, simply cutting the artificial gravity to the
cargo area is how I assume most of that sort of thing is done. Similarly,
grav compensation technology (that allows a ship to maneuver without
splatting all of the internal contents around) ought to allow you to
create Zero-G or reduced G even when grounded, but I don't recall the
rules going into that level of detail, including, "can I cut/raise/reverse
G to this space but not the other?"
We got at the similar dynamic of passenger loading/unloading through the
interaction between hatch and seat size, but didn't go all the way with
cargo.
I like the idea of the hand thruster, but again my assumption is that a
"vacc suit" is not simply a garment that holds your atmosphere but leaves
you an inert, helpless lump, but has to include maneuvering aids in the
limbs or "backpack." Back to cargo, "grav grippers" or "grav handtrucks"
or "grav forklifts" must exist, but much of that is standard equipment
either aboard the ship or at the starport, included along with a couple
threadbare cargo blankets, included in the port fees. There's always room
for more fun detail. I've always been of two minds about equipment books.
On the one hand, some people find the equivalent of number 2 pencils,
paper clips, tire jacks, etc., useful, especially for color, but a lot of
that stuff ends up being ignored in favor of the sexier things, mostly
weapons.
> Hal, I wouldn't worry too much about just what is cannon or not. Its true
> that only something from GDW or FFE is true cannon, but with all the
> licensed by and authorized by and whatever by that true cannon has gone
> out the window, at least for me. The thing I like about Traveller,
> besides all the fun we have is how easy it is to translate it from one Era
> to another or from one book series to another If you find a nugget don't
> hold back, enjoy. If you find something you want to share here please do,
> thoughts and ideas from here have translated into some fine gaming for us.
> I suggest that if you still feel uncomfortable about sharing something,
> that you just make a note that you got this from wherever you got it.
> This way if say you share a ship design you do up, that someone can choose
> to keep, change or replace the what's-a--ma-call-it with something of
> their choosing.
> I've done this myself many times. Hand thrusters for use in persons
> maneuvering in space, there are none in TNE, but MT equipment book as
> one. When you finish a ship design the hole left over usually gets a
> sticker reading Cargo Bay slapped on it, but how do you move cargo from
> one end to the other. I thought about an overhead gantry crane, but
> FF&S-1 doesn't have one, FF&S-2 does though. Now when our cargo master
> tells us to shift a 3-ton container from the back of the bay we don't
> have to cut cards to see who gets to shot him in the backside.
> So feel free to mine the nuggets you find and again please share anything
> you want to, one persons thought idea or whatever could be another's gold
> mine.
> Roger
>
included gantry cranes, overhead trolleys, tracks, etc., and that would
apply to "cargo space" as well. But as you point out, that doesn't give
you much for color, how many tracks, how far apart, etc. The big thing is
the differentiation between true cargo hold and the miscellaneous leftover
space that often passes for "cargo" but really isn't set up to be that
useful. Definitely a notch above the crown molding, chair rail, and
wainscoting design sequence.
Depending on where you're at, simply cutting the artificial gravity to the
cargo area is how I assume most of that sort of thing is done. Similarly,
grav compensation technology (that allows a ship to maneuver without
splatting all of the internal contents around) ought to allow you to
create Zero-G or reduced G even when grounded, but I don't recall the
rules going into that level of detail, including, "can I cut/raise/reverse
G to this space but not the other?"
We got at the similar dynamic of passenger loading/unloading through the
interaction between hatch and seat size, but didn't go all the way with
cargo.
I like the idea of the hand thruster, but again my assumption is that a
"vacc suit" is not simply a garment that holds your atmosphere but leaves
you an inert, helpless lump, but has to include maneuvering aids in the
limbs or "backpack." Back to cargo, "grav grippers" or "grav handtrucks"
or "grav forklifts" must exist, but much of that is standard equipment
either aboard the ship or at the starport, included along with a couple
threadbare cargo blankets, included in the port fees. There's always room
for more fun detail. I've always been of two minds about equipment books.
On the one hand, some people find the equivalent of number 2 pencils,
paper clips, tire jacks, etc., useful, especially for color, but a lot of
that stuff ends up being ignored in favor of the sexier things, mostly
weapons.
> Hal, I wouldn't worry too much about just what is cannon or not. Its true
> that only something from GDW or FFE is true cannon, but with all the
> licensed by and authorized by and whatever by that true cannon has gone
> out the window, at least for me. The thing I like about Traveller,
> besides all the fun we have is how easy it is to translate it from one Era
> to another or from one book series to another If you find a nugget don't
> hold back, enjoy. If you find something you want to share here please do,
> thoughts and ideas from here have translated into some fine gaming for us.
> I suggest that if you still feel uncomfortable about sharing something,
> that you just make a note that you got this from wherever you got it.
> This way if say you share a ship design you do up, that someone can choose
> to keep, change or replace the what's-a--ma-call-it with something of
> their choosing.
> I've done this myself many times. Hand thrusters for use in persons
> maneuvering in space, there are none in TNE, but MT equipment book as
> one. When you finish a ship design the hole left over usually gets a
> sticker reading Cargo Bay slapped on it, but how do you move cargo from
> one end to the other. I thought about an overhead gantry crane, but
> FF&S-1 doesn't have one, FF&S-2 does though. Now when our cargo master
> tells us to shift a 3-ton container from the back of the bay we don't
> have to cut cards to see who gets to shot him in the backside.
> So feel free to mine the nuggets you find and again please share anything
> you want to, one persons thought idea or whatever could be another's gold
> mine.
> Roger
>