Here are some other thoughts on the Hector Class Miner that I skipped yesterday:
The Look and Feel of the Hector Class Mining Vessel
The official classification of the Hector's configuration is "dome", but this is slightly misleading. First, the Hector is actually more of a three sided pyramid (three sides plus the 'base'). Secondly, a dome classification often assumes the base of the dome to be the 'bottom' of the ship, which is not the case for the Hector.
While in flight, the apex of the pyramid is actually the bow of the ship and the base is the stern. The three edges leading from the bow to the stern are commonly referred to as the ship's 'spines' and contain many of the ships cables and fuel lines. At the end of each spine (the stern-end) there are external mounts for the engines (each engine providing 1/3 of the total thrust). These mounts are very flexible, can hold differing sizes of engines -as long as there is no imbalance between the thrust available in each mount- but are difficult to reach internally. All maintenance on the engines done from within the vessel are at one level of difficulty greater than normal due to the restricted space.
The three edges that run along the base of the pyramid (from engine mount to engine mount) are curved towards the bow of the ship making the engines appear to 'stick out' more than normal. The base of the pyramid itself is not flat, but concave towards the bow of the ship. This configuration gives the Hector a unique look, not shared by many other vessels.
[Designer's notes: It also means that the calculated 'length' of the ship is not accurate. I have not had the time, however to work out the actual dimensions of the vessel but may do so at a future point. Feel free, if you are so inclined, to look up the calculations for the volume of a three-sided pyramid, remembering to knock off a third of it due to the curved nature of the stern-end of the ship.]
Regular Operations [the complete version]
Fuel is the biggest concern for the Balaam (often referred to as the Frankenstein by the crew). After taking into account a two parsec jump while towing the max load, remaining G-truns are listed as 29 @ 1 G, but this is a little deceiving as that is 1 G with no payload. Really, the remaining amount of G-turns will depend on the mass of the material being towed. If the volume to mass ratio is 1:1 (i.e. towing 6,000 m3 massing 6,000 kg) then the remaining G-turns after a 2 parsec jump are calculated as follows:
2,470 (total fuel) - 1,740 (total fuel for jump from jump table) = 730 (remaining fuel)
730 (remaining fuel) / 75 (fuel / G from towing table) = 9 G-turns at 1 G w/ 6,000 kg payload.
That's 9 G's total after taking the 2 parsec jump into account. This is really only feasible if either jumping along side another vessel which can help out is something happens, or if jumping into friendly territory where someone is expecting you to arrive.
Also note, the 6,000 kg payload is assuming a 1:1 ratio between volume and mass, which is often not the case when just towing rock. A fairly profitable asteroid might be 75% rare minerals (7.9 kg per 10 m3), and 25% other rocks (3.3 kg per m3). This would give the asteroid a volume to mass ratio of 1:0.675 which would mean that 6,000 m3 of this rock would mass 4,050 kg. Assuming the GM allowed it, you could extrapolate the fuel requirements for each G from the Towing table to be 62.5 m3 / G which would give you 730 / 62.5 = 11 G's. Still not much, but it shows how squeeze a few more G's out of this beast of burden.
One option is to load up with, not just ore, but icy chunks as well which would allow 'asteroid refuelling' after the jump is made. If ice is 1 kg per m3, say half of it is usable as fuel, and the process of asteroid refuelling is 75% efficient, then a full 'tank of gas' would be 462 m3 at 462 kg. The speed of the fuel refining process on this ship, however, means that you would need to wait almost 30 hours for it to all be ready. Technically, this ship could load up on raw fuel, make a jump, refine more fuel, make another jump, wash, rinse repeat up to 12 times in a row.
[Designer's Note: I am a little shaky on the whole asteroid refuelling process, so if someone could confirm my numbers (and provide corrected ones if mine are in error) that would be great]
It should be noted that fuel reserves are only this much of a concern when both towing the max payload *and* making a 2 parsec jump. Typical operations are actually to have an ore processing plant near where the asteroids are being harvested so as to not loose two weeks worth of time between the acquisition of the minerals and the delivery of the same. Typically, the crew of the Balaam will survey the asteroids, collect some raw fuel to be processed while gathering the rocks that interest them into a nearby clump, collect some more unrefined fuel, and refine it on their way back to the ore processor where they can fill up. The fuel refinery is typically in constant operation throughout the entire process.
In fact, the main reason the Balaam has been fitted with a 2-parsec jump drive is just because it needs to be able to keep with the rest of the operation when they pack up and move to another system to start gathering ore there.
The Building of the Balaam
The Balaam's origins are a source of frustration for the ship's captain. A belter by trade, he had made the ultimate strike when he came across 3 salvageable Hector Class mining vessels. However, he was also under contract at the time and so the company he was working for ended up owning a large portion of the find. Combined with local laws requiring all new relics to be turned over to the government, it looked like he might not even end up with his own ship in the end.
Some cleaver bartering on the captain's part lead to him being able to keep one of the three ship's hulls and having it refitted with local, TL 9 parts as compensation for the discovery. Literally everything in the ship was stripped out and replaced, except the engines (only half of which were still working). The negotiations continued with the mining company who ended up compensating him with the remaining engines and both a TL 12 jump engine and the TL 12 sensor turret (both relic items that had already been processed and registered by the government). From there, the captain hired a skeleton crew and piloted the ship to a nearby TL 10 world where he paid out of pocket to have the life support replaced and artificial gravity and G-compensators installed (to the tune of about MCr6).
Now, after sustaining what he considers to be substantial losses from down-time, the captain is back at his old job of asteroid mining trying to make up for all the time required to get the ship in operation. Due to the high maintenance costs of running the vessel, however, he has also taken to some shady side deals that make full use of all the "wasted space" throughout his vessel. The main advantage he has is his incredibly low mortgage (of about MCr10) which enables him to afford the higher costs of maintaining his vessel.
The Balaam in Other Settings
Surviving, space-faring worlds of the New Era are most likely to be at TL 9, TL 10 if they're lucky. The Balaam serves as a great example of some of the tradeoffs that such worlds must take into consideration when building ships in general. At TL 9, a huge consideration is mass, simply because all the equipment weighs a lot more then its higher TL counterparts. The other consideration is costs. Generally, TL 9 equipment is far more costly to buy/build due to the fact that it is often a new technology for the world, or at the very least one that is in high demand. First time ship owners are likely to have either salvaged a ship and taken out a loan for repairs, or had to make a deal with a local company who will take a portion of profits, and getting a 'clunker' in return. The Balaam certainly fits both those conditions.
Due to the lack of cargo space, or rather the lack of *internal* cargo space, and the lack of contra-grav machinery, the Balaam is not suited for many typical tasks which a jump-capable ship often engages in. Generally, it is a workhorse, taking full advantage of the 24,000 tons of thrust available to it to either tow ships, asteroids, or transport SDB's into systems needing protection. One creative use of a ship such as this is to use it in conjunction with another, none-jump capable ship containing a large cargo area with a fuel bladder (and, possibly, extra fuel refining plants) which could serve to both land on worlds and skim fuel as needed.