OBT Forum
General BattleTech => General Discussion => AeroTech => Topic started by: Takiro on January 15, 2011, 10:15:01 PM
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Hey guys, I was watching a History Channel show today on pre-Columbian exploration of the Americans. They detailed the Chinese Junk, the Arab Dhow, the Viking Knarr and many others which got me thinking. Why not depart from the generic Jumpship classes of the BattleTech universe and embrace a more regional Jumpship building spree based on historical lessons. Each faction has its own Mech why not their own Jumpships? Of course this would have to be a special setting where Space Infrastructure is being rebuilt or was never completely destroyed. Thoughts?
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Well, you'd certainly see this in Warship designs. In civilian/merchant ships though, I think that, given the economic models that we have for trade, larger vessels like the Star Lord, Monolith, and even the Potempkin (sans weapons) classes (or designs very like them) would be the rule, rather than the exception.
I base this on real-world shipping - transshipping cargo is profitable only in bulk for anything other than "novelties", like spices, jewelry or artwork. The shipping model in use here is termed "lighter aboard ship", describing the interaction of dropships with their carriers -- the FTL ship does not land on a planet, but carries the dropship to a point in-system, where the dropship (the "lighter") either 'cross-decks' to another Jumpship, or heads into the system to rendezvous with a station or land on a planet.
The catch is that a ship derives commercial profitability in only two ways: low-mass/high-value cargoes, or high-mass/low-value ones. In almost all cases, the only realistic cargoes available are high-mass/low-value (grain, water, ores, gases, consumer goods) -- which dictates that the more dropships you carry, they more profit you turn...Of course, that requires larger vessels to accommodate more cargo loads. In my view, ships with fewer than 6 docking collars, with the sole exception of the Potemkin, should almost all be military- or government-operated, because they will simply have too hard a time maximizing their profits to keep up with overhead.
As a result, whether in 2750, 2800 or 3025, there should be huge numbers of Star Lords and Monoliths, but comparatively few Scouts, Merchants or Invaders...
My ç0.02 C-Bills.....
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I agree. The smaller ships would probably be tramp steamers, smugglers, explorers, yachts and other niche specialties
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I would think there would be small variations in names and configurations over some similar models.
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I'm talking about a whole scale departure from the old generic ships Ice. Probably needs a special setting.
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I'm talking about a whole scale departure from the old generic ships Ice. Probably needs a special setting.
Why?
Warships are a display of national power/pride/philosophy but Jumpships?
They share the same origin and they are cheaper to produce when mass produced.
If they are public owned, then you could still variation over the centuries but as long as they remain in private hands, it is highly doubtful that you would see a lot of differences and national/regional designs.
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Warships are an entire different monster. They have unique national classes and design philosophies already. Here I was talking about our boring generic jumpship classes.
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a new house type of Jumpship !?,sounds fun see if I can find my Mule Jumpship I did for House Davion, use it mostly in the outer marches.
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well since I got the idea and information wrong for doing the design I am deleting this design as it did not fit request parameters.
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I agree. The smaller ships would probably be tramp steamers, smugglers, explorers, yachts and other niche specialties
Right -- but only those in private hands. Were I the billionaire mogul or House Lord (even relatively "minor" princelings), I could totally see spec'ing out a Merchant or an Invader with a luxury barbette or two built over one or two collars, leaving the other free for my own personal Monarch....