[Spaceships] I made this one...

[KlausPrinceOfTheUndeads]

... for my future game group, who decided to abandon the cyberpunk genre (thank goodness!) for a Cowboy Bebop-like sci-fi with a taste of retrotech. Of course, knowing nothing of the anime could be a hindrance for me, but that's not my current issue. ;-)
I made this starship for my group to use in their hunt of other ships. It is a SM +8 vessel powered by a primary antimatter power plant and a backup fusion plant (they are located in two different sections, so if one of them gets damaged or destroyed they can still use the other to power the stardrive).
Every section is protected by two layers of nanocomposite armor; the rear section's armor is hardened, since most of the critical systems are located here (not to mention a frightening amount of antimatter!). The front section hosts the control room, sensors, a defensive ECM and the ship's main weapon system: I'm inclined to choose a particle ray, useful to penetrate other ships' armor, or an UV laser, that wouldn't have that nasty radiation problem.
This section also holds an habitat, transferred from the central section as there was not enough room for the engine room. :-P There are 12 "habitat" rooms in total: 4 would be cabins for the crew, 2 would go away for the commander's cabin, and the others would include a lab, a sickbay and some cells.
The central section includes a cargo space (for recovered stuff and so on), the secondary power plant and the ship's secondary weapon system: a turret with three different weapons (I'm unsure about this, however: I wanted a weapon capable of firing in all directions, but three weapon systems would require three gunners to operate, and there are only 5 PCs around in the ship). I still don't know what to put into this one.
Finally, the rear section incorporates the main stuff: the main power plant, reaction drives, stardrive and engine room, as well as a fuel tank.
Design options include artificial gravity, emergency ejection, ram-rockets and stealth hull.
I need some comments about that stuff: would it be good as a hunting ship? What does it miss? Is there something in excess?
Thanks for your attentions and answers.


SM: 8
Front
[1-2] Armor: Nanocomposite
[3] Defensive Ecm
[4] Array: Tactical
[5!] Weapons: Major Battery
[6] Habitat
[core] Control Room
Center
[1-2] Armor: Nanocomposite
[3!] Weapons: Medium Battery
[4] Habitat
[5] Cargo Hold
[6] Power Plant: Fusion
Rear
[1-2] Armor: Nanocomposite
[3] Engine Room
[4] Power Plant: Antimatter
[5] Fuel Tank
[6] Reaction Engine: Antimatter Plasma Torch
[core] Stardrive
Design Options

* Artificial Gravity
* Stealth Hull
* Emergency Ejection
* Ram-Rockets
* Hardened Rear Armor

Cost
$170,100,000

[Agemegos]

Originally Posted by KlausPrinceOfTheUndeads

The central section includes a cargo space (for recovered stuff and so on), the secondary power plant and the ship's secondary weapon system: a turret with three different weapons (I'm unsure about this, however: I wanted a weapon capable of firing in all directions, but three weapon systems would require three gunners to operate, and there are only 5 PCs around in the ship). I still don't know what to put into this one.

What's the secondary weapon for? If it's for point defence a tertiary battery of very rapid fire improved lasers seems like the go.

Finally, the rear section incorporates the main stuff: the main power plant, reaction drives, stardrive and engine room, as well as a fuel tank.
Design options include artificial gravity, emergency ejection, ram-rockets and stealth hull.

Ram-rockets, huh? So you are planning on operating inside an atmosphere?

I need some comments about that stuff: would it be good as a hunting ship? What does it miss? Is there something in excess?

Sorry, but I don't understand the allusion you made to your inspirational material, so I don't know what you mean by 'hunting'. What prey are you after?

SM: 8
Front
[1-2] Armor: Nanocomposite
[3] Defensive Ecm
[4] Array: Tactical
[5!] Weapons: Major Battery
[6] Habitat
[core] Control Room
Center
[1-2] Armor: Nanocomposite
[3!] Weapons: Medium Battery
[4] Habitat
[5] Cargo Hold
[6] Power Plant: Fusion
Rear
[1-2] Armor: Nanocomposite
[3] Engine Room
[4] Power Plant: Antimatter
[5] Fuel Tank
[6] Reaction Engine: Antimatter Plasma Torch
[core] Stardrive
Design Options

* Artificial Gravity
* Stealth Hull
* Emergency Ejection
* Ram-Rockets
* Hardened Rear Armor

Cost
$170,100,000

It's worth noting the tech level in a stat block, and calculating the dDR of armour and the ddamage ratings of weapons.

I guess this design is for tech level 10.

[KlausPrinceOfTheUndeads]

Agemegos, thank you for your answers!

Originally Posted by Agemegos

What's the secondary weapon for? If it's for point defence a tertiary battery of very rapid fire improved lasers seems like the go.

I thought that the primary weapon would be used against ships of the same or similar size, while the secondary battery would be used against fighters and other small, fast ships. Your suggestion seems quite good for that.

Ram-rockets, huh? So you are planning on operating inside an atmosphere?

I just want to make things smoother, should they enter atmosphere. ;-)

Sorry, but I don't understand the allusion you made to your inspirational material, so I don't know what you mean by 'hunting'. What prey are you after?

Pirate ships and the like. Heck, even I do not know the inspirational material! It was my players' idea. X-D

It's worth noting the tech level in a stat block, and calculating the dDR of armour and the ddamage ratings of weapons.

I guess this design is for tech level 10.

Woops! Yes, it is a TL 10 ship.

[KlausPrinceOfTheUndeads]

Raised from the third page. O_o

[sir_pudding]

The Bebop was a fishing trawler. Was it even armed?

[Anaraxes]

Buncha yokels don't even know a transport ain't got no guns on it.

Whoops, sorry, wrong inspirational material.

When it comes to geek pop culture, Wikipedia is always a good source for a summary. Basically the crew is a collection of bounty hunters. Bebop uses external jump gates; the ship itself is in-system only (as is the whole series, I think), so no stardrive should be necessary.

[Agemegos]

Originally Posted by KlausPrinceOfTheUndeads

Agemegos, thank you for your answers!

My pleasure.

I thought that the primary weapon would be used against ships of the same or similar size, while the secondary battery would be used against fighters and other small, fast ships. Your suggestion seems quite good for that.

Well, in Spaceships big weapons don't track any slower than small weapons, and small ships don't move faster than big ships, so your main gun will do fine against smaller ships. The reasons for going for a medium battery or lighter seems to be (a) to equip yourself with a selection of different weapons for use against different targets, (b) to get a to-hit bonus for rate-of-fire for nailing pesky targets with small size or good ECM or dodge, or (c) both.

I recommend a tertiary battery of very-rapid-fire improved lasers in turrets strictly for use against torpedoes and shells. In a 20-second turn you get thirty shots each at a rate-of-fire of 200, which is +8 to hit, but each shot is only 30 kJ, which does crummy damage and has C range. It is almost useless against ships.

I just want to make things smoother, should they enter atmosphere.

Then you probably want a streamlined hull.

Pirate ships and the like.

Hmm. A lot depends on what your pirates do, and what sort of ships they do it in. I'd think that you might want something a bit beefier.

[KlausPrinceOfTheUndeads]

Here's the ship's last version (enlarged to fit 7-8 PCs in - yep, I know, madman):

SM: 9

Front
[1-2] Armor: Nanocomposite
[3] Defensive Ecm
[4] Array: Tactical
[5!] Weapons: Major Battery
[6] Habitat
[core] Control Room

Center
[1-2] Armor: Nanocomposite
[3] Weapons: Medium Battery
[4] Engine Room
[5-6] Fuel Tank

Rear
[1-2] Armor: Nanocomposite
[3] Fuel tank
[4-5] Reaction Engine: Fusion Torch
[6] Power Plant: Fusion
[core] Stardrive

Design Options

• Artificial Gravity
• Winged Hull
• Stealth Hull
• Emergency Ejection
• Ram-Rockets
• Total Automation
• Hardened Front Armor
• Hardened Center Armor
• Hardened Rear Armor

Cost
$1,275,000,000

I'm considering to fill a fuel tank with water, just in the case.

[thtraveller]

Originally Posted by KlausPrinceOfTheUndeads

Here's the ship's last version

[1-2] Armor: Nanocomposite

I consider this overarmoured for the role. You could go down a size category if you lost the second layer of armor and had 2-3 habitats.

• Emergency Ejection

That's not allowed by the rules - it's only allowed for size 5-8 and for a non-core control room.

• Ram-Rockets

This adds 480 M$ to the price, which seems a tad expensive. You could have a small craft for this. In any case you don't really need ram-rockets as you have plenty of fuel that you can use in atmosphere.

• Total Automation

This doesn't appear to do anything as at SM9 no modules have workspaces?

Cost $1,275,000,000

This looks high. I get around M$ 970

[yffub]

Originally Posted by KlausPrinceOfTheUndeads

I'm considering to fill a fuel tank with water, just in the case.

I have been using 2 tanks of H2 for typical maneuvers and 1 tank of H2O for combat or for blasting off of high G worlds. I'm also considering allowing variable thrust torch engines that can function as either regular or high-thrust (double the Gs, half the delta-V), for 2x (or some other multiplier) price of a regular engine; unofficial of course, but not terribly unbalancing.

I agree that 2 armor units on each section might be excessive. I like to put 2 on the front and 1 on the center and back. In the test combats I've played, ships fighting each other seem to be nose to nose a fair amount of the time. Of course if you are running away you might wish you had that extra armor on the rear...