Re: New Low Rates (shorter now)

Noam wrote:

> Diaspora-G (Sinai) Colony ship:
>  Hull Displacement: 400
>  Point Cost: 679 + 152 for station pod & shuttles + 160 for Heavy
> Lifters
>  Unallocated Mass: 0
>  Ship Type: Merchant/Civilian
>  Hull Strength: Fragile
>  Hull Armor: 0
>  Streamlining: None
>  Thrust: 1 Loaded, 3 Empty
>  FTL Capable
>  ECM: None
>  Hull: 10/10/10/10
>  Crew: 20 (70 officers, 330 Ratings)
>  Screen / 1
 
Screens on a Fragile hull? As I said to Tony Francis, this is simply a
waste
of resources - the same Mass of armour gives at least twice the
protection
against all weapons except needle beams and possibly EMP missiles, and
the armour is cheaper :-/

>  Cargo Space: C40 C40 C40 C40 Four colonial Drop Pods
>  Cargo Space: HL40 HL40 SP34 Two Heavy Lifters and one 
>  Station Pod 
 
You're mixing MT and FB design rules here, or else the HLs aren't
supposed to be able to re-dock with the Sinai after they've been
launched 
(nor able to load cargo from the Sinai). Bays able to carry two Mass 40
ships have a total Mass of 120 in FB, not 80.

Do the colonists landed by the HLs live in the HLs during the
interstellar
journey? The Sinai has no space for them except in the colony drop
pods,
but those are supposed to land themselves. (Not that I'd want to be in
one of them when it tries - see below!)
 
> Gimel Class Colonial Drop Pod
> Dispolacement: 40
> Complement: 600 Colonists and equipment @ 15/Mass (well 
> stocked); 1000 @ 25/mass (moderate supply); 2000 @ 50/mass 
> (low supply). 
> Each pod is redundant.

Um... English isn't my first language, but my dictionaries translate
"redundant" roughly as "superfluous" with a touch of "...as long as you
haven't lost the primary unit" - and I wouldn't be willing to tell a
bunch of colonists that their landing craft is that, or that they are
:-/ What does the word mean in reality?

> Power/Locomotion: Unidirectional atmospheric entry. Grav/retro
> assist.

These should count as Streamlining - at the very least Partial,
probably
Full. Even so, the indicated complete lack of structural integrity
makes it
rather unlikely to survive atmospheric entry - even a near-miss from a
PDS would destroy it <shudder>

> Magen III Class Station Pod/Outpost
> Hull Displacement: 34
> Point Cost: 124+24 for shuttles

128 + shuttles (34 [hull size] + 14 [hull integrity] + 9 [screen] + 6
[armour] + 18 [beams] + 6 [PDS] + 8 [FCs] + 33 [shuttle bay]).

>  Unallocated Mass: 0
>  Ship Type: Merchant/Civilian
>  Hull Strength: Weak
>  Hull Armor: 3
>  Streamlining: None
>  Thrust: 0
>  FTL: None
>  ECM: None
>  Hull: 2/2/1/1

Should be 2/2/2/1. A bit too small to use a screen too - particularly
since
missiles are the weapon of choice to kill immobile targets.
 
Regards,

Oerjan Ohlson
oerjan.ohlson@telia.com

"Life is like a sewer.
  What you get out of it, depends on what you put into it."
- Hen3ry