Hello all,

In the Citizens of the Imperium download area for spreadsheets I found a MT Spreadsheet that I checked out. I ran the Gazelle from MT Imperial Encyclopedia page 84 through the spreadsheet then everything fell apart when I entered the J5 drive and the drop tanks. The numbers for the J5 drive changed.

I contacted the spreadsheet's creator about the changing numbers since my understanding is that when setting the jump rating the number of jump units is fixed based on the original hull size. The person indicated that the jump drive scales up or down to accommodate the original hull plus the drop tanks.

Does the jump drive scale up and down when carrying external loads?

This led to discussing the CT LBB 5 HG 2e USP which I have understood to identify the jump drive, maneuver drive, and power plant's design maximum capability. In the case of the 300 ton Gazelle on page 17 the four USP digits of xx-3x557xx indicates that the Hull tonnage is 300, Jump Drive is designed to cover 5 parsecs, the maneuver drive is rated for 5-g, and the power plant has an output 7 EP.

By adding the 100 tons of fuel in drop tanks the USP I think should be xx-4x557xx since the only thing that changed was the hull tonnage. Pushing a 400 ton hull with a jump 5 drive and maneuver 5 drive rated for a 300 ton hull drops the performance but the drives are still J5 and M5.

The CT Supplement 7 Gazelle shows the USP with drop tanks as xx-4x447xx which is showing that the 400 ton Supplement 7 Gazelle has a J4 drive, M4 drive, and a Power plant of 7. The USP is showing the performance of the 400 ton hull with a 300 ton hull drives rated for J5 and M5. This USP is almost identical to the one in the JTAS 4 Gazelle, the difference is that the JTAS 4 Gazelle does not have a hull configuration code since CT LBB 2 does not have them.

Does the USP indicate the designed specifications or the modified specifications?

Tom Rux