Spaceships, Floor / Deck Plans, Volume and Hexes

[vicky_molokh]

Greetings, all!

Trying to figure out the amount of space, I see something troubling. According to the author's expansion, an SM+8 ship's systems provide about 16-50 one-yard hexes each. A Habitat module for SM+8 provides 6 Cabins, with each cabin being suitable for accommodating two people.
That's somewhere between 1.33 to 4.16 hexes per person.
A single one-yard hex is the equivalent of 0.54m² (0.64yd²). At best, this means 2.24m² (2.66yd²) of place per person.

How is one supposed to fit a bed, let alone a cabin, into that amount of space?

Thanks in advance!

[Turhan's Bey Company]

Originally Posted by vicky_molokh

How is one supposed to fit a bed, let alone a cabin, into that amount of space?

I ran into this when I started trying to create deck plans based on those designer's notes. The first thing is to go with the upper end of the range for habitat modules. In this case, I wouldn't bother with less than 45 hexes per system. Second, think submarines rather than cruise ships, let alone buildings. Most crew will sleep in stacked bunks, so two-ish hexes will sleep two crewmen.

[Langy]

A bed is only about 1 yard by 2 yards; it should fit within 2 hexes.

[vicky_molokh]

Originally Posted by Turhan's Bey Company

I ran into this when I started trying to create deck plans based on those designer's notes. The first thing is to go with the upper end of the range for habitat modules. In this case, I wouldn't bother with less than 45 hexes per system. Second, think submarines rather than cruise ships, let alone buildings. Most crew will sleep in stacked bunks, so two-ish hexes will sleep two crewmen.

Originally Posted by Langy

A bed is only about 1 yard by 2 yards; it should fit within 2 hexes.

I was looking for cabin sizes, not bunks. For bunks, there's actually 0.66 to 2.08 hexes per person total (apparently both for the room and the bed-slot).

And if a bed is 1 yard by 2 yards, that makes it 2 square yards. A hex is 0.64yd², so it takes 3.125 hexes for the bed alone.

I wonder if calculating volume from SM is actually a better idea.

[Langy]

Originally Posted by vicky_molokh

I was looking for cabin sizes, not bunks. For bunks, there's actually 0.66 to 2.08 hexes per person total (apparently both for the room and the bed-slot).

And if a bed is 1 yard by 2 yards, that makes it 2 square yards. A hex is 0.64yd², so it takes 3.125 hexes for the bed alone.

I wonder if calculating volume from SM is actually a better idea.

First, the area of a hex isn't 0.64 square yards - it's 0.86 square yards. I'm not at all sure where you got 0.64 square yards from.

Second, yes a bed will extend a *little* bit into the corners of the 'edge' hexes, but it's close enough.

Third, beds are still likely to be bunk-beds even in Cabins.

[Seneschal]

Yup, when I ran a hard-SF space campaign, most astronauts got a coffin which was their room, entertainment, personal storage and bunk, all-in-one. Since everything was in zero-g, habitat sections resembled hives, with bunks on every wall.

Y'know, like this.

[gilbertocarlos]

Imagine an hexagon, now name the edges A, B, C, D, E and F.

If 1y is from the edge A to edge D, then it is 0.64952y², rounded to 0.65y²
If 1y is from line AB to line DE, then it is 0.866y²
Thats a 4/3 difference.

[vicky_molokh]

Originally Posted by Langy

First, the area of a hex isn't 0.64 square yards - it's 0.86 square yards. I'm not at all sure where you got 0.64 square yards from.

The area of a hexagon equals 3×sqrt(3)×edgeLength²×½; for a 1-yard hexagon, the edge equals ½yard. So 3×sqrt(3)×½×½×½ = 3 × sqrt(3) × 0.125 = 0.64 yd².

[Langy]

Er, the edge length of a GURPS hex isn't half a yard. The edge length is about 0.58 yards.

A GURPS hexagon has a side-to-side length of 1 yard (so to travel through one whole hex you travel one yard). Call this side-to-side length 'd'. The area of a hexagon is sqrt(3)/2 * d^2, or in this case just sqrt(3)/2, or 0.866.

Originally Posted by gilbertocarlos

Imagine an hexagon, now name the edges A, B, C, D, E and F.

If 1y is from the edge A to edge D, then it is 0.64952y², rounded to 0.65y²
If 1y is from line AB to line DE, then it is 0.866y²
Thats a 4/3 difference.

I think what you meant was that the vertices are A, B, C, D, E, and F.

A GURPS hexagon has a distance of 1 yard from line AB to line DE - that's the distance someone would need to travel to cross the hexagon from a hex directly below it to the hex directly above it.

The distance from one vertice of the hex to the opposite one doesn't matter at all; it's not something that's within the GURPS definition of the hex and has no relation whatsoever to hex-based movement.

[Turhan's Bey Company]

Originally Posted by vicky_molokh

I was looking for cabin sizes, not bunks.

Sure, but revising your thinking on bunk size allows you more room for other necessary uses of space. A double-occupancy cabin could be, say, five hexes, with three-ish hexes left over for a share of common space like a kitchen, mess hall, and bathroom facilities.