Steve Jackson Games Forums - [spaceships] Chaloupe III Light Transfer Vehicle

Yo! Long time no see! How are you guys doing?

For no especially good reason, I wrote up this idea I had in a dusty corner of my mind as a GURPS Spaceships design. I'm open to any critique, especially as I used only the basic Spaceships book and what I could remember of the playtests for the THS and fighters books.

Astronova-Dassault Chaloupe III Light Transfer Vehicle (THS)

Derived from the earlier fission-powered Chaloupe Deux, this is a 9-tonne, high-thrust, fusion-powered transfer vehicle for ESCA spacecraft and stations.

The Chaloupe Trois base vehicle is a 2.2 metre wide by 4.7 metre tall (7.2' × 15.4') unstreamlined cylinder. Aft are the landing legs for surface transfers, and the fusion pulse drive. At the bow is the clamp for the 2.2 by 2 metre (7.2' × 6.6') mission module, which can also be used to grab larger items.

The 2700 kg (3 ton) modules include: a cargo module with a robot arm; a four-passenger crew transfer module; a reconnaissance module; a selection of weapon modules; and a two-passenger drop capsule. Mother spacecraft generally carry a selection of modules according to mission requirements and spare cargo space. Civilian models of the Chaloupe normally do not have access to the recon and weapon modules.

The vehicle has occupancy for one pilot and a passenger plus 225 kilos of cargo (500 lb), and two fuel drums for fusion pellets, giving the Chaloupe plus module a delta-V of 10 mps and an acceleration of 1.5 Martian gee (0.6 Earth gee). Without a module the vehicle has a delta-V of 15 mps and acceleration of 2.4 Martian gee (0.9 Earth gee). There is no airlock as standard; the vehicle must be docked via the side-hatch or the forward clamp, or pressurised for local conditions, for entry and egress. However, modules equipped with side hatches of their own may be used as expedient airlocks.

The Chaloupe III is a non-standard GURPS Spaceships design, with a custom SM+4 hull with some non-standard systems extrapolated from existing systems. It masses 10 tons and is 22 feet long with a module installed, 7 tons and 15' without a module. Price for the base vehicle is $672K; prices for the mission modules are listed below.

Systems Table: Base Vehicle

Code:

Front Hull     System

[1-6]          Mission module, see below

Code:

Central Hull   System

[1]            Grapple

[2-4]          Control room (SM+5 sys, one control station, Comp 6 computer, comm/sensor 4)

[5,6]          Passenger seat + 500 lb cargo (half-size SM+5 passenger sys, half-size cargo hold)

[core]         Fuel tank (half-ton fusion pellets, 5 mps)

Code:

Rear Hull      System

[core]         Fuel tank (half-ton fusion pellets, 5 mps)

[1-6]          HT fusion pulse drive (0.6g)

Systems Table: Mission Modules

Code:

Cargo Module ($102.5K)

[1-5]           Cargo hold (2.5 tons)

[6]             Robot arm (dST 15)

Code:

Crew Transfer Module* ($20K)

[1-6]           4 Passenger seats

Code:

Laser Turret Module*† ($178K)

[1]             Tactical array (comm/sensor 5)

[2-4]           Major battery (SM+5 sys, 10 Mj UV Laser Turret)

[5-6]           Power plant (Half-sized SM+5 MHD, 1 power point for 12 hours)

Code:

Missile Module*† ($320K)

[1]             Tactical array (comm/sensor 5)

[2-6]           Major batteries (twenty-five fixed mount 16cm missile launchers)

Code:

Recon Module*† ($300K)

[1-3]           Multipurpose array (SM+5 sys, comm/sensor 6)

[4-6]           ECM (three SM+4 ECM, -6)

Code:

Capsule Lors de l'Entrée en Atmosphère (Drop Pod)* ($110)  

[1,2]           Armor (metal-matrix composite, dDR 6)

[3-5]           2 Passenger seats

[6]             Soft-landing system

Code:

Notes: * Side egress hatch

       † Includes control station

Spacecraft Table

Code:

TL   Spacecraft        dST/HP   Hnd/SR   HT   Move        Lwt   Load      SM   Occ   dDR   Range   Cost



PILOTING/TL10 (PILOT, HIGH-PERFORMANCE SPACECRAFT)



10   Chaloupe III LTV  15       0/4      12   0.6G/10mps  10    0.25-2.5  +4   2-6    -      -     $700K—1M