USS Macon (ZRS-5)

Engurrand · 08-30-2013, 03:22 PM

-this post has been updated to reflect fixes suggested later in the thread-

I need some help stating up the USS Macon for use in a TL6 pulp adventure game. I figured I'd start with the real stats and then add pulp by buying additional capacities with CP as per Supers p.84.

I'm not overly familiar with vehicles in GURPS. This is my first foray. After some research here, here and here I've got realistic stats as:

Code:

ST/HP           190
Hnd/SR          -4/3
HT	        10
Move	        2/43
LWt	        180t
Load	        72t
SM	        13
Occ	        93+7 A (or thereabouts)
DR	        1
Range           10,500
Cost	        $34.5m
Locations	S,Ar,s,
Stall	        0

There are an awful lot of things I'm not sure about.
The Load, for example: -resolved and included in the above block- Wikipedia gives the ship's useful load at 72t and 'tonnage' at 108 tons. Assuming by 'tonnage' it means something akin to loaded weight, that would give an empty weigh of 36 tons (that's not very much, but then, it is an airship). Somebody commented in the airship.net webpage that the Macon could carry 50 tons of fuel. I couldn't find anything competing with that so 72 useful tons minus 50t fuel gives the 22 ton load I give above. Does that seem right? (not forgetting the crew takes up 10 tons, and the compliment of 5 fighters takes up another 6, leaving only 6 tons for cargo)

The ST: -resolved- How does one normally calculate the strength? I put 60 pts in payload and calculated a strength that would make the payload equal to the 22t load. Higher strength/lower payload ratios give the same load for more point cost. I chose high payload low strength because I can only imagine blimp's don't have much capacity for exceeding their payload, but at this point, I'm just making stuff up and would appreciate some guidance.

Hnd/Sr: I took that straight off the blimp on B.465.

Locations: The Macon has 13 helium bags, 8 engines, a superstructure, a retractable arm (trapeze), an aircraft bay, a forward control pod (bridge), an emergency control pod, a mess hall, a kitchen, a radio-room, and an unknown number of quarters and other rooms. If I were building a custom hit location table, I'd put most of those on it, but I'm not sure how to represent them on the existing vehicle hit location table.

Cost: -resolved- I found somewhere a reference that the Macon cost 2.5 million in 1934 dollars. To get the cost above I converted that to 2004 dollars, using this website.

The basic build of the Macon, listed below, is 211 CP.

Code:

Machine Meta-trait      [25]
Compartmentalized mind (dedicated controls) [60]
Doesn't sleep [20]
Enhanced Move (Air), handling penalty -4 [48]
Extra ST 180 (size -80%) [360]
Flight [40]
Illumination [1]
Payload [200]
Telecommunications (radio) (secure) [12]

Maintenance, (requires Mechanic (Airship)) 3-5 people, daily, [-30]
No legs (aerial) [0]
No Manipulators [-50]
Numb [-20]
Reduced IQ 10 [-200]
Reduced DX 10 [-200]
Restricted Diet (gasoline, helium, common) [-20]
Social Stigma (valuable property) [-10]
Wealth (Dead broke) [-25]

What have I missed or messed?

So if I understand the rule on Supers p.85 correctly, your PC must pay the 23.8m$ pricetag, and then ignore the first 211 cp (it's basic cost) on it's character sheet when paying for it as an ally?

Thank you for your help!

08-30-2013, 03:22 PM	#1
Engurrand Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: Wormtooth Nation	USS Macon (ZRS-5) -this post has been updated to reflect fixes suggested later in the thread- I need some help stating up the USS Macon for use in a TL6 pulp adventure game. I figured I'd start with the real stats and then add pulp by buying additional capacities with CP as per Supers p.84. I'm not overly familiar with vehicles in GURPS. This is my first foray. After some research here, here and here I've got realistic stats as: Code: ST/HP 190 Hnd/SR -4/3 HT 10 Move 2/43 LWt 180t Load 72t SM 13 Occ 93+7 A (or thereabouts) DR 1 Range 10,500 Cost $34.5m Locations S,Ar,s, Stall 0 There are an awful lot of things I'm not sure about. The Load, for example: -resolved and included in the above block- Wikipedia gives the ship's useful load at 72t and 'tonnage' at 108 tons. Assuming by 'tonnage' it means something akin to loaded weight, that would give an empty weigh of 36 tons (that's not very much, but then, it is an airship). Somebody commented in the airship.net webpage that the Macon could carry 50 tons of fuel. I couldn't find anything competing with that so 72 useful tons minus 50t fuel gives the 22 ton load I give above. Does that seem right? (not forgetting the crew takes up 10 tons, and the compliment of 5 fighters takes up another 6, leaving only 6 tons for cargo) The ST: -resolved- How does one normally calculate the strength? I put 60 pts in payload and calculated a strength that would make the payload equal to the 22t load. Higher strength/lower payload ratios give the same load for more point cost. I chose high payload low strength because I can only imagine blimp's don't have much capacity for exceeding their payload, but at this point, I'm just making stuff up and would appreciate some guidance. Hnd/Sr: I took that straight off the blimp on B.465. Locations: The Macon has 13 helium bags, 8 engines, a superstructure, a retractable arm (trapeze), an aircraft bay, a forward control pod (bridge), an emergency control pod, a mess hall, a kitchen, a radio-room, and an unknown number of quarters and other rooms. If I were building a custom hit location table, I'd put most of those on it, but I'm not sure how to represent them on the existing vehicle hit location table. Cost: -resolved- I found somewhere a reference that the Macon cost 2.5 million in 1934 dollars. To get the cost above I converted that to 2004 dollars, using this website. The basic build of the Macon, listed below, is 211 CP. Code: Machine Meta-trait [25] Compartmentalized mind (dedicated controls) [60] Doesn't sleep [20] Enhanced Move (Air), handling penalty -4 [48] Extra ST 180 (size -80%) [360] Flight [40] Illumination [1] Payload [200] Telecommunications (radio) (secure) [12] Maintenance, (requires Mechanic (Airship)) 3-5 people, daily, [-30] No legs (aerial) [0] No Manipulators [-50] Numb [-20] Reduced IQ 10 [-200] Reduced DX 10 [-200] Restricted Diet (gasoline, helium, common) [-20] Social Stigma (valuable property) [-10] Wealth (Dead broke) [-25] What have I missed or messed? So if I understand the rule on Supers p.85 correctly, your PC must pay the 23.8m$ pricetag, and then ignore the first 211 cp (it's basic cost) on it's character sheet when paying for it as an ally? Thank you for your help! Last edited by Engurrand; 08-30-2013 at 08:48 PM. Reason: Updating for fixes later in the thread.