Quote:
Originally Posted by Anaraxes
The extra space would be a lot more useful for crew possessions than cargo space, because it's unlikely to conveniently make the actual hold bigger in a useful way.
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The thing to remember with respect to "modular design" is that things are not all together in one spot (with the exception of Turrets that is).
that having been said - when you use a bridge module, and then remove 4 workstations from it as part of the ship design - you're not pulling out 14 cubic meters (or 500 cubic feet) from one area - you're simply designing your bridge to be 500 cubic feet smaller, leaving you those 500 cubic feet to be filled with something else - somewhere else.
The other thing to keep in the back of your mind is the RVO software that is capable of being used in lieu of actual crew members. A bridge should be manned during all hours of operation - but if you need to, you can use an RVO program to stand in for that bridge watch.
Again, much of this stems on the fact that GURPS TRAVELLER is not entirely the same as Classic Traveller or anything else for that matter. The rule in CT about losing one level of skill when handling multiple responsibilities - doesn't exist within GURPS. Even so, having an Engineer/Pilot/Navigator aboard a ship in CT would result in his skills being lowered to Skill-0 if all the character had was Engineer-1, Pilot-1, and Navigation-1. CT treats a skill-0 as being meaningful (no penalties for not having at least a skill 0, whereas no skill at all was a problem much like working by default in GURPS.)
In the end? If a 100 dTon hull is designed from the start, to be handled by one crew member - then it doesn't need 5 crew stations (standard for a bridge), nor does the ship require 3 work stations (standard for a compact bridge). A double compact bridge would be only 1 work station.
Such a ship, to put this in Star Trek terms, would be the one that Harry Mudd or Cyrano Jones used.
Can a single person circumnavigate the world via a sail boat? Sure. It is always better to have more people on hand in case something goes wrong. <shrug>