Shipyard - Beowulf Walkthru

Traveller5 Starship Design Walk-Through #1
The Beowulf-Class Free Trader

Contents
Introduction .................................................................................................................................................. 2
Mission (pp. 314, table on p. 330) ................................................................................................................ 3
Hull (p. 315, tables on p. 332) ....................................................................................................................... 3
Configuration ............................................................................................................................................ 3
Structure and Fittings................................................................................................................................ 4
Jump Field (p. 317; formulas on p. 335) ....................................................................................................... 5
Armor (p. 317; tables on p. 336) ................................................................................................................... 5
Drives and Fuel (pp. 318-322, 337-340) ........................................................................................................ 5
QSP ................................................................................................................................................................ 6
Sensors (p. 323; tables on p. 341) ................................................................................................................. 7
Weapons (p. 323; tables on p. 342) and Defenses (p. 324; tables on p. 343) .............................................. 7
Operations (p. 324 and p. 344) ..................................................................................................................... 7
Controls ......................................................................................................................................................... 8
Crew (p. 346) ............................................................................................................................................... 10
Payload (p. 347) .......................................................................................................................................... 11
Design Evaluation ........................................................................................................................................ 12
Passenger Demand ................................................................................................................................. 12
Crew Comfort .......................................................................................................................................... 12
Ship Ergonomics ...................................................................................................................................... 12

Introduction
This walk-through focuses on the process of ship building and is based on the Traveller5 Core Rules (T5)
as initially released in April 2013. Subsequent errata may change specific numbers or options, but will
not invalidate the description of the process in these pages.
In general, starships consist of a hull, drives, fuel, weapons (including defenses), facilities for subcraft,
crew and passenger quarters, cargo space, and a way to control the ship, commonly called a Bridge but
also including remote stations and the ship's Computer. Each element has a variety of options. This
walk-through visits the required elements of ship design and points at the relevant pages in T5 in the
process of designing a common ship in Traveller, the Beowulf-class Free Trader.
The Free Trader is a ship with basic capabilities designed for cargo and passengers, and the Beowulf is
one of many different Free Trader designs. This particular ship is constructed at Tech Level 10. The
traditional description of the Beowulf-class Free Trader is typically along these lines:
Using a 200-ton hull, the Beowulf-class free trader is an elementary interstellar merchant ship
plying the space lanes carrying cargo and passengers. It has Type 'A' drives for a performance of
Jump-1 and 1G; there is enough fuel for 1 jump and 1 month's operations. It has fuel scoops and
intakes, permitting it to refuel via skimming a gas giant or gathering water from a planet's
surface. Adjacent to the bridge is a computer Model/1. There are two hardpoints, unequipped.
The ship is streamlined, and has landing skids for landing on a tarmac or other flat, stable
surface.
The Free Trader has accommodations for 4 crew: pilot/astrogator, engineer, medic, and
steward. Up to two gunners may be added. There are six staterooms for high or medium
passengers, and 20 low berths. Gunners may be added by displacing passenger staterooms.
There are no carried vehicles. Cargo capacity is 82 tons. The Beowulf costs MCr 42.7.
Lets build it!
Mission (pp. 314, table on p. 330)
Starships are primarily defined by Mission. When you sit down and design a starship, you have a certain
type of ship in mind: a trader, or a cruiser, or a scout, for example. That is the ships Mission. The first
step in the design process, then, is to select a Mission Code (p. 314). The mission code tables are on
page 330. In the case of the Free Trader, the Mission Code is 'A'. If the ship were to have a greater
range, it could be considered a Far Trader (AA, 'A2', or 'AF'). If it were designed only to carry
passengers, it could be called a Liner ('R') or, perhaps, a Packet ('U'). Conversely, if it were designed only
to carry freight, it could be called a Freighter ('F'). You get the idea.
Well list the Mission code, the design class and Mission full name in parentheses, then the TL:
A (Beowulf-class Free Trader) TL 10
Hull (p. 315, tables on p. 332)
The second step is to select the Hull (p. 315). There are four variables that detail a hull: volume,
Configuration, Structure, and Fittings.
Configuration
Configuration (p. 332) indicates the overall organization of the ship, whether the ship's components are
an accumulation of components, or enclosed in a lifting body, or somewhere in between. Configuration
sets upper limits on the maximum acceleration of a hull, especially in an atmosphere. Some
Configurations, such as the Planetoid, cannot enter an atmosphere at all. The Beowulf-class Free Trader
has a Streamlined Hull (S). Configurations which favor atmospheric agility are more expensive than
those which don't.
The Volume (a 'B' hull at 200 tons) is selected from the table on page 333. Volume and Configuration
together specify the hull price. A 200 ton Streamlined hull costs MCr 14. If the ship didn't need to enter
an atmosphere, it could have been a Planetoid hull, which would reduce the hull's cost to MCr 2.
So we have our first design element, the hull. We list the hulls volume, type, cost, and notes as shown
below.
Volume Component MCr Notes
200 Hull B, Streamlined 14

Structure and Fittings
Structure (p. 316; table on p. 334) is about the hulls construction. Structure affects some performance
characteristics, and also affects the basic armor on the ship. Fittings (p. 317; table on p. 334) give some
options about how the ship lands on planets. For example, you can give your ship wings like the
Serpent-class Scout, or handy landing legs for setting down on uneven surfaces in the wilderness, or
lifters for the ability to hover in place for extended periods of time, perform fine-grained maneuvering,
or travel Nap Of Planet-style just above a worlds surface.
For the basic Beowulf, we just accept the defaults: a 'Plate' hull Structure, and 'Landing Skids' (p. 334),
both at no cost and no volume. Note that by default the ship can also land and take off vertically using
the ships maneuver drive, but the drive is not sensitive enough to allow Nap Of Planet travel or
hovering.
Plate hulls have an Armor Value (AV) equal to the ship's TL; in this case, the Free Trader has AV 10. Note
that AV works together with Configuration to determine the maximum safe reentry speed of a ship (pp.
364-5). Since this Free Trader is not significantly armored, it can only handle a safe re-entry (p. 365).
Our running balance looks like:
200 Hull, Streamlined 14
- Plate - AV 10
- Landing Skids - Flat surfaces only

Note that most Structure and Fittings choices add to the volume of the hull. In some cases this may
change the performance characteristics of the ship (p. 315-6).
Diversion: Flying Wings
Traveller5 does not list a Flying Wing configuration, but the requirements for one could be estimated.
First, it is probably most similar to a Lifting Body. Going from there, it probably differs from a Lifting
Body in being more agile, but much less stable. In short, it has the benefits of the Airframe and Lifting
Body configurations, but has lower stability as a tradeoff. Therefore, a possible Flying Wing
configuration might look like this:
Code Type Subtype Friction Agility Accel Max G Stability
Lw Lifting Body Flying Wing /5 +1 +1 9 +0

Jump Field (p. 317; formulas on p. 335)
After the hull is designed, we then may optionally define the Jump Field (p. 317, table on p. 335). There
are three types of Jump Field. This Free Trader has the default field, which imposes no additional cost: a
Jump Bubble. And we can move on to installing drives.
Note that the Jump Field is a characteristic of the hull, rather than the Jump Drive: a new Jump Drive
may replace an old one, but the Jump Field doesnt change. With a Jump Field and Jump Drive, we can
calculate the minimum safe jump distance, and the chance for misjump if the ship attempts to jump
within this distance (p. 335).
Since were accepting the default Jump Field, and it has neither volume nor cost nor significant notes,
theres no need to jot it down on our balance sheet.
Armor (p. 317; tables on p. 336)
Since we are not adding armor to the Free Trader, we move on, having already noted that our hull has
an Armor Value equal to its TL, 10.
If we were going to add armor, we'd use the tables on page 336, noting that:
the "first layer" is the hull skin, and as such as no volume.
the value inside the table is the total tonnage for the total layers of armor.
if you prefer formula, each additional layer takes up 4% of the "hull volume" in tons.
That's right, armor is free. The volume required is the deciding factor.
Drives and Fuel (pp. 318-322, 337-340)
Next, drives are chosen (pp. 318-322; drive formulas are on page 337, while drive potential-related
tables are on pages 338 and 340). Note that choosing drives resembles the Book 2 process more than
the High Guard process, but the tables are backed by formulas similar to those in High Guard. The
formulas can therefore be used instead of the tables.
The Beowulf has Jump-1, Maneuver-1, and Power Plant-1; Using the type B hull as a vertical index into
the drive potential table (p. 340), one finds that potential-1 corresponds to a drive A. So we install a
Jump Drive A, Maneuver Drive A, and Power Plant A using the table on page 338. The volume of the J-
Drive A is 10 tons, the volume of the M-Drive A is 2 tons, and the volume of the P-Plant A is 4 tons, for a
total volume of 16 tons. Looking at the bottom of the table, we see that the J-Drive and P-Plant cost
MCr1 per ton, while the M-Drive costs MCr 2 per ton. Total cost is therefore MCr 1 x (10+4) + MCr 2 x 2
= MCr 18.
The typical jump drive requires 10% hull volume of fuel per parsec jumped (p. 319). In this case, the
jump drive requires (1 x 200)/10 = 20 tons of fuel. T5 allows advanced technology to optimize fuel
usage, at the risk of altering drive quality. In this case we will stick with the defaults, however.
The power plant requires fuel equal to the power plant rating times 1% of the hull volume (p. 337),
according to the equation (H x P)/100, where H is the hull volume, and P is the power plant rating. In this
case, the power plant requires (200 x 1)/100 = 2 tons of fuel, per month.
The default mode for a PowerPlant is Decentralized. Our fuel usage is therefore 2 tons per month (p.
337). We will install 4 weeks worth of fuel, for a total of 2 tons.
QSP
Now that we know the ships Mission Code (A), Hull Size Code (B), hull Configuration (S), Maneuver
rating (1) and Jump rating (1), we can put them all together, in that order, to form the Quick Ship Profile
(QSP) like so:
A-BS11 (Beowulf-class Free Trader) TL 10
- Plate - AV 10
10 Jump Drive A 10 J1
20 Jump Fuel - 1 parsec
2 Maneuver A 4 1G accel
4 Power Plant A 4 1 month = 2t fuel
2 P-Plant Fuel - 2 months
1 Fuel Scoops 0.1 200t/hr
1 Fuel Intakes 0.1 40t/hr
Fuel Scoops
We should install Fuel Scoops and Fuel Intakes. Frontier refueling is, after all, a big deal in Traveller.

Traveller5 has three ways to gather fuel: Fuel Scoops, Fuel Intakes, and Fuel Bins. Scoops are for
skimming from a gas giant. Intakes are for refueling from surface water, such as rivers or seas. Bins are
for gathering fuel from water ice, such as that found at the poles, or in comets or ice-teroids.

Consulting table F on page 339, a 1-ton Fuel Scoop costs KCr100 and can skim up to 200 tons of fuel in
an hour, and a 1 ton Fuel Intake (similarly KCr100) can collect 40 tons in an hour. We'll take one of each.
Though the Beowulf's jump drive doesn't run well when the power plant burns unrefined fuel, NOTHING
runs with NO fuel.
Sensors (p. 323; tables on p. 341)
By default, every ship has installed (at no extra cost) a navigation system. It also has a Communicator
with Range 7, a Radar with Range 7 for collision detection, and several Range 6 Portholes for visual
detection (p. 383). Upgrades, additional sensors, and various sensor modifications are available, but for
this design's purposes the defaults are fine (and help keep the price down).
200 Hull, Streamlined 14 +1 Agility
- Plate - AV 10
10 Jump Drive A 10 1 parsec = 20t fuel
20 Jump Fuel -
4 P-Plant Fuel - 2 months
- Default Sensors -
Weapons (p. 323; tables on p. 342) and Defenses (p. 324; tables
on p. 343)
The basic Beowulf Free Trader comes without weapons or defenses; however, its 200 ton hull has two
hardpoints (pp. 316-7) for future expansion.
It is worth noting that the process for installing weapons, sensors, and defenses is essentially the same.
A somewhat longish discussion is needed to explain all of the ins and outs of these devices, but the most
typical way to select these is to:

1. pick a weapon (or sensor, or defense)
2. pick an emplacement appropriate for the selected item
3. note the volume and total cost
Operations (p. 324 and p. 344)
The Free Trader carries no ship's troops, specialists, vehicles, or small craft. Standard life support needs
for ten sophonts requires one ton at MCr 1 (p. 344), plus Luxury life support for high passengers adds
another ton and another MCr 1.
Luxury Life Support is not time-delimited; that is, it is not strictly food and water for high passengers.
Rather, it is durable materials and equipment, such as small refrigerators, valet robots, juicers and spa
equipment, and perhaps some one-use things like bath salts and appetizers. Still, they are not items
which incur a monthly cost, but rather, one large up-front cost.
- Plate - AV 10
10 Jump Drive A 10 Jump-1
2 P-Plant Fuel - 1 month
- Default Sensors -
1 Life Support 1 10 people/1 month
1 Luxury L.S. 1 10 people
Controls
A starship has a lot of equipment that calls for interaction with the Crew, from maintaining the drives to
weapons, airlocks, and just getting the ship from place to place. By long tradition the Pilot of a starship
occupies the ship's Bridge, whether his is the only seat on a tiny Scout ship or one seat in a massive
command center on a warship with thousands of crew. There are advantages (p. 327, The Bridge) to
clustering other crew stations with the Pilot on a common Bridge, but you need not do so and T5 does
not define a Bridge as being a specific size.

Most prior editions of Traveller assign a specific volume to "Bridge" functions, but even these did not
require that those functions all be in the same room. In T5 ship control functions are centralized in a
number of Consoles or Workstations (p. 325, Consoles) which may be clustered in one place, scattered
about the ship, or some combination of the two. A Console is a computer, subordinate to the ships
Master Computer, which is capable of performing tasks on any control panel in its network. When
working alone, the Console uses its Tech Level as its task target number. When operated by a person,
the character's Characteristic + Skill is used instead.

Our Free Trader requires many control panels, based on the number and size of the mechanisms (pp.
325 and 345) that require them. These may all be clustered into one Console (p. 345) assuming one
crew member can handle all typical starship operations or as many Consoles as there are Control
Panels, for a 100% automated starship. At TL10, a Control Panel operating autonomously has an Asset of
10, which is not quite sufficient for an Average task. This means that starship automation is not very
effective at TL10. Therefore, this ship requires at least one crew member to operate it.

The Beowulf is designed for a crew of 4: Pilot/Astrogator, Engineer, Medic, and Steward. Its control
stations are broken out into Bridge, Engineering, and Support.

The Bridge has two Control Consoles, for the pilot and an optional co-pilot, which allow the pilot to fly
the ship as needed. The Bridge also has an Operating Console for sensors, and a second Operating
Console for the ships Computer. Having a Bridge grants a Control Ergonomics +2 mod to the daily
Mishap roll for the ship (pp. 327, 348; ref p. 196). The Consoles on the Bridge are also Spacious (p. 345),
which also affects the Ship Ergonomics rating (p. 348). At two tons per spacious control station, the
Bridge is therefore 8 tons. The cost for the Bridge equipment is two Control Consoles (2 x KCr 200) plus
two Operating Consoles (2 x KCr 100), for a total of KCr 600.

A Model/1 Computer is added for one ton and MCr 3.0 (p. 345), to aid crew operations, and to permit
simple automation of one crew position if need be. The Computer substitutes its TL to tasks being
performed. Since the ship is built at TL10, the computer is also TL10. That doesn't stop you from
installing a higher TL computer, however; talk to your referee about that.

The Beowulf also has three dedicated Operating Consoles in engineering, one each for the Power Plant,
Maneuver Drive, and Jump Drive. As with the Bridge, these controls are Spacious (p. 345). The total
tonnage for engineering controls is (3 x 2t) 6 tons, and the total cost is (3 x KCr 100) KCr 300.

Finally, the ship has two General Consoles, called Workstations, for use by the Steward and the Medic.
Workstations are an affordable type of Console. These are Typical, rather than Spacious (p. 345). Each
is 1 ton, and each costs KCr 50.
Beowulf Controls:
8 Bridge 0.6 Spacious Control x 2, Operating x 2
1 Model/1 1.5
6 Engineering 0.3 Spacious Operating x 3
1 Stewards Console 0.05 Workstation
1 Medics Console 0.05 Workstation
Crew (p. 346)
We decide to allocate space for four crew members (pp. 329, 346). Room for four crew, at 5 tons per
crew member, takes 20 tons. That works out to, more or less:
8t 4 standard staterooms MCr 0.4
2t 2 shared freshers MCr 2
10t Common Area -

- Plate - AV 10
- Default Sensors -
1 Model/1 1.5
8 4 Crew staterooms 0.4
2 2 Crew freshers 2 Shared freshers
10 Crew Common Area -

Historical Commentary: That's MCr 2.4 for 20 tons of crew accommodations. In Classic Traveller, that
would be 4 staterooms (2 ton room + 2 tons common) = 16 tons, at MCr 0.5 per stateroom, totalling
MCr 2. If I needed crew space in a hurry, I could use the CT rule, and results would be close. A slightly
more accurate estimate would be 5 tons per person at MCr 0.5 per person. Those estimates are in a
hurry, mind you, and not correct if you were going to publish it in a supplement.
Payload (p. 347)
Room for six high passengers, at 5 tons per passenger, takes 30 tons. Twenty low berths are also
installed. There is enough space left over for an 80 ton cargo hold. Well divide the passenger space into
six staterooms, two shared freshers, a clinic, and a 15 ton common area.
(200) Hull, Streamlined 14
- Plate - AV 10
- Default Sensors -
1 Model/1 1.5
8 4 Crew staterooms 0.4 Crew Space
1 2 Shared freshers 1 Crew Space
10 Crew Common Area - Crew Space
12 6 Pass. Staterooms 0.6 Passenger Space
1 2 Shared Freshers 1 Passenger Space
2 Clinic 1 Passenger Space
15 Passenger Commons - Passenger Space
10 Low berths (20) 2
82 Cargo Hold -
TOTAL COST: MCr 42.7
HISTORICAL NOTE: For passengers, that's 30 tons for only MCr 2.6 -- still close to Classic Traveller
standards. Accommodations for 6 passengers in CT would run 24 tons and would cost MCr 3. If I were in
a hurry, I could use the Classic Traveller standard measurement, noting that the volume is cramped, or
(for a bit more space) 5 tons living space per person at MCr 0.5 per person.
Design Evaluation
At this point, we calculate some statistics about our ship: Demand, Crew Comfort, and Ship Ergonomics.
There is one element here that I think is a rules fix. I have put it in red like this.
Passenger Demand
Demand is an index measuring how desirable the ship is to passengers. It serves as a mod when finding
high and middle passengers. The formula is:
Demand = (T/P) 5
T (Passenger space, in tons) is 30.
P (Number of passenger accommodations) is 6.
Thus, Demand = (30/6) 5 = 0. This ship is not a luxury liner, but neither is it a seedy, unsanitary dump.
Crew Comfort
Crew Comfort is in index measuring the working conditions aboard the ship. It serves as a mod for crew
sanity. The formula is:
Comfort = (Q/M) 5
Q (Crew space, in tons) is 20.
M (Number of crew) is 4. Note that when M changes, Comfort changes!
Thus, Comfort = (16/4) 5 = 0. This ship is average; still, its not luxury by any means: at each stop the
crew will likely stay off the ship for as long as possible.
Ship Ergonomics
Ship Ergonomics is an index measuring the quality of work done at Consoles. It serves as a mishap mod.
The formula is:
Ergonomics = (F/C) 5 + K
F (Total Console Tonnage x 2) is 17 x 2 = 34.
C (Total number of Consoles) is 9.
K (The Control Mod due to having a Bridge) is 2.
Thus, Ergonomics = (34/9) 5 + 2 = 0. This ship has an average safety record.

Shipyard - Beowulf Walkthru

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Traveller5 Starship Design Walk-Through #1

The Beowulf-Class Free Trader

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