Spaceships - "House" systems

[jacobmuller]

CultureUlterior suggested in this thread that a compilation of alternative systems for Spaceships might be handy. NB: I'm not saying "official" or approved, just ideas that might spark ideas for systems other folk might want, hence "House" as in house-rules.
[rolling ball...]
Some bits I'm using [Oops - I'm running at TL10/11 and don't bother much with TL variables]:

Habitat [Any]

• improved Hibernation Chamber, needs hook-up to ships Life Support systems, 24 per cabin @ $10k per (this is a TL10 upgrade of a TL9 design) UT198
• Suspended Animation Tubes (SATs) are 8 per cabin @ $50k each; self-contained system. UT198.
• Nanostasis Pods are 12 per cabin @ $500k each. UT200.
• Nanostasis Lockers: comprise a single Nanostasis Tank (½ the weight of a Pod and just $300k plus $200k for materials), with shelving storage for 36 100kg subjects per cabin. UT200.
• Cybershell docking stations, cyber-docks, are 20 per cabin @ $25k each. These provide recharge and routine maintenance for up to 6 cybershells per station @ 4hrs per cybershell, ie 1 cabin per 120 cybers.
• Coffin Beds: 8 per cabin; this is a hole in the wall but includes all the basic entertainment amenities and improved privacy; separate lockers allow for minimal personal effects storage @20kg per person.
• Cocoon: all cabin beds include cocoon tech; 20 minutes equates to 8hrs of sleep and each additional 5 minutes is an extra hour. This will prevent FAT lost due to sleep deprivation but may not allow recovery of Fat lost due to other effects.
• Cabins: allow 40m3/ 5ton/ $160k per; space for access, hygiene and galleys may be external to this, 24m3. Typical numbers of Cabins required for crew: 2/3 Bridge, Medical or Science; 1/3 Troops; ½ Other; 0.01 Cyber.
• Passenger seating ¾tons, $5k per seat.

[jacobmuller]

And I think Brett suggested this one (if I've messed it up let me know and I'll gladly delete this post!)

Life Support
Air and water are included in the Habitat system. A cabin worth of life support machinery produces enough food for thirty people at TL8, seventy people at TL9, and 150 people at TL10, while at TL11+ providing food is a trivial by-product of providing water and oxygen.

[jacobmuller]

Smart-Metal
This is the latest materials technology; limited availability. A smart-metal hull can be reconfigured for Combat or Travel, Unstreamlined or Streamlined, and it can alter its dDR per Angled Force screens. Design the ship as usual, the dDR is for combat mode; Travel mode allows double the access, storage and living area but halves dDR and is SM+1. When reconfiguring, make a HT check; failure indicates something not where it should be; critical failure indicates a hull breach. Smart Metal can also repair hull breaches by spreading its armour. Use the stats for TL10 nanocomposite but costx5; no-armour is priced as dDR 0.5. LC1.
Polymetal
Polymetal vessels can be shipped as a homogenous mass and formed as they are needed; space saving, disposable, transport system. They can change shape once; the next change causes destabilization and meltdown. Use the stats for TL10 nanocomposite but costx3; no-armour is priced as dDR 0.5. LC1.

[Langy]

Life Support
Air and water are included in the Habitat system. A cabin worth of life support machinery produces enough food for thirty people at TL8, seventy people at TL9, and 150 people at TL10, while at TL11+ providing food is a trivial by-product of providing water and oxygen.

Spaceships 7 seems to indicate that life support is half of cabin mass, so a single cabin full of life support machinery would only support eight people. This matches the values I calculated using third edition information after figuring in how much the system would require in auxiliary power and heat radiators.

Of course, if you use superscience the mass required by heat radiators and power (and life support machinery itself, of course) can be drastically reduced, and those figures may not have been valid for all tech levels, or valid at all if the assumptions were incorrect.

Also, your 'Suspended Animation Tubes' are the same as Spaceships 1's Hibernation Chamber except 1/4 as large.

[jacobmuller]

Brett (if he was the mastermind) was working on figures solely for Food supply rather than the whole thing. Air and water per cabin block, food separate.

SAT's - yes, more to do with UT weights and available space than anything else. I figure you can fit more in than Spaceships allows for. House-rule.

[Langy]

Well, don't forget that about half the mass of a habitat (or more!) is probably auxiliary power and heat radiators. Those things can be heavy! That's a pretty decent reason why each hibernation chamber masses 1.25 tons rather than just 750 pounds as per Ultra Tech, and they probably require more power (and thus create more heat) than the equivalent mass in cabins.

[Rupert]

I allow weapons to be placed in multi-weapon turrets, which allow one gunner to fire them all together if the weapons are identical in the same way that a fixed mount does (no +2 bonus, though). If a turret has a selection of weapons, only one type can be fired per turn, but the gunner can swap between them each turn.

I also allow weapons of the 'wrong' size to be installed in a system, by taking advantage of the 1-3-10 scaling. Thus you can fit a 'medium' weapon in a 'small' weapon system at the cost of 3-4 small weapons.

These house rules allow more flexibility in arming small ships and custom alterations by PCs, etc.

[munin]

Originally Posted by jacobmuller

Smart-Metal

Is this an armor system that can affect the size of other systems? Or is this a design option for cargo hold/habitat systems?

Also, shouldn't no armor be priced as dDR 0.2 for streamlined and dDR 0.3 for unstreamlined (SS, p. 10)?

Originally Posted by jacobmuller

Polymetal

Again, is this an armor system or a design option for other systems?

I'm not sure I understand the advantages of this, since Spaceships is all based on mass, not size. A hangar bay can transport a regular 30-ton ship just as easily as a 30-ton homogenous mass.

[cultureulterior]

Ground Drive-Train(TL6)[Hull!]
The ground drive-train gives a top speed of 15mph per system installed.

Battery System(TL5)[Any]
Gives 1/3 power point per system for 24 hours. Batteries then need to be recharged for 4 hours, using 2 power points per each system.

Passenger Seat exposed to space/without life support[Any]

SM       +2    +3    +4      +5
Spaces   1/4   1/2   1       2
Cost ($) 100   300   1000    3000

Habitat Blocks
Full Suit VR Pod. (0.25)
Suitable for entertainment, psychological torture, or full sensory control of robots for planetary exploration or invasion. (For size 0.75 this also allows full life support obviating any need to ever exit the pod, and for size 1.5 it is containerized with fully redundant backup power supplies)

Mindrape Pod (0.25)
This device, which works much like the brainwipe machine of ultratech, is suitable for imprisonment and redesign of sentient minds via psionics, nanonics, or other means. Suitable for recalcitrant prisoners, hostages, or employees. Get the respect you deserve!

Ship Features
Feature: Ornamental Hull
The hull is sculpted or coated with curlicues, crenellations, gargoyles, and other decorative or artistic works. Hull can’t be streamlined or stealth, and in fact gives +1 to detection, but does impress the easily impressed. Hull cost is *1.2

Feature: Hyperspace Radiators
(Power Plant Cost*2, only for craft with hyperspace engines) No realspace radiators need to be exposed, and effectively unlimited amounts of heat can be dissipated.

The rest are from a previous thread.

Space Lifter(SM7+, TL9)[Hull!]:
The space lifter is a portable space elevator, that can deliver an (SM-3) object or vehicle to the surface of a rotating terrestrial planet over the course of several hours. The space lifter can also deliver and retrieve aerial vehicles at an altitude suitable for powered or unpowered atmospheric flght, when traveling to somewhere not on the equator. This is useful when designing ships with low acceleration.

Gas Sprayer (TL7, atmosphere)[Hull]
Can spray nerve, blister, and various riot control gases. Nerve gasses are extremely suitable for starship landers, as most landers are airproof already, and gases use very little mass per capita killed.

Foam Sprayer(TL8, atmosphere)[Hull]
Can launch burning, flame retardant, disinfectant, defoliant, sticky, paralytic, and/or poisonous foam. Suitable for quelling hostile races, or races about to become hostile. Range 200 yards.

Liquid Sprayer(TL6, atmosphere)[Hull]
Can launch water, jet fuel, ammonia or other tankable liquids. Useful for setting and preventing fires, and elementary washing. Can spray in cone or line, range 30 yards.

Space Infantry Armor Launcher(SM7+, TL9)[Hull]:
Essentially a large electromagnetic automatic catapult, which can be used for reentry deceleration suitable for dumping human or robotic infantry into an atmosphere. Can also be used for space burials.

Tiltable Helicopter Rotor(TL8)[Hull!]:
This system takes up two slots, one for rotor and motor, and one for tilter and wings, but adds +1 to air performance handling. Requires the vehicle to be winged. 350mph max speed.

Fixed Wing Propellers:(TL7)[Hull!]:
Requires the vehicle to be winged. 450mph max speed.

Strikers[Hull]:
Like Tail(SS7), but forward.
Suitable for ramming, ripping and tearing.

Electromagnetic Mind Disruptor(TL12^)[Hull]
Like the Mind Disruptor from SS7, but works on all types of minds. Shields resist at 1% of dDR. Can be resisted by an Electronic Warfare roll with a +2 per defensive ECM system installed, if the ECM is of same TL or higher.

Force Materializer(TL6^)[Hull!]
Can be used for making simple geometric objects out of forcefields, e.g domes, pipes, cylinders, swords, cups. Power point cost is 1 pp continually for an (SM-1) object. Same object creation rules as the create object spell. The object moves with the creating vessel.

These systems should also be mentioned- they are very useful:

http://forums.sjgames.com/showpost.p...6&postcount=12

http://forums.sjgames.com/showpost.p...58&postcount=1

http://forums.sjgames.com/showpost.p...24&postcount=1
Munin: please post them in this thread

[Allu]

Power Cell Bank (TL9) [any]
This advanced version of a Battery System provides 6 power point hours at TL9 and doubles in capacity every TL after that. Power cells have a indefinite shelf life and can discharge their entire capacity instantly. May be Volatile (ask your GM).

Cost: Same as Fusion Reactors.
No workspaces.

This system is very powerful but so are the power cells in UT. Modify capacity, discharge rate and cost to taste.