On 4/17/2020 7:26 AM, Timothy Collinson
- timothy.collinson at
port.ac.uk (via tml list) wrote:
I quite agree!
It's why I came up with the Hampshire-class yacht for
my Second Scions' Society adventure.
Forget the piddling little yachts you've seen, think more
Downtown Abbey in space! This could carry an owner and family
plus 12 guests (with partner + 2 servants apiece) with room for
100 servants.
I really ought to get this published... I just can't help
feeling it would be better with Part III which I've not written
yet.
tc
I'd love to see it.
One of the big issues is cost. I look at real-world costs and even
the cheapest jump capable ship is often grossly more expensive than
a small luxury yacht. And then when you get into larger shipping,
say a good sized cruise ship that's designed for tier 1 luxury, you
can buy one (not staff or maintain, but buy) for less than $250m.
If it helps, he says plucking the file of his shelf, the Hampshire, one of only three built (when 2 other nobles saw the Hampshire and decided they wanted similar) as a County-class luxury, came in at MCr763.2 for its 2000 ton hull. (MgT1 rules. It will need converting). I'm pretty sure that 3/4 of a billion doesn't really include proper 'finishing' to the standard of luxury the Count - and guests - would expect!
Jump 4, Thrust 2
His & Hers Master suites, 20 guests, 76 serving staff & crew (now I'm looking at actual numbers rather than relying on memory).
a garden dome, 21m pool, library, games room, chapel, and hanger deck for pinnace (40-ton), launch (20-ton), grav RV, Air Rafts x 4 and yacht (an actual sailing yacht) are just some of its features across 5 decks (not counting fuel decks). Part of the hanger deck can be cleared to reveal a fencing piste. 24 Reprieve-class escape pods.
Count Spirn's pride and joy. At the time I was "building" this, in PowerPoint(!), I'd spent so long on it that I was dreaming about walking its alleyways and even now could walk from any point to any other point in my mind quite easily.
Oh, here's a fun line: "Servants often wryly note [the number of escape pods] is precisely the number of nobles the ship can carry" - but the pinnace and launch can be used as lifeboats as well (not to mention rescue balls). There's even a potting shed just off the domed garden. Beneath the garden is a hydroponics 'deck'.
Hmmm, had forgotten just how much fun the whole thing was although it was a lot of work at the time. (It was the year I spent essentially 12 months writing 100 pages for my 2nd ever TravCon adventure - having been burned the first year by leaving a similar quantity of prep to the last month!). The adventure includes an 11 page (66 item) auction catalogue as well as details of all the 76 serving staff and crew! It's also the one with four pages of plants which one player said to me would supply all his Traveller plant needs for the rest of his life. <sigh> On the upside, Count Spirn and the other players could turn to absolutely anyone aboard and expect real interactions. And the auction as a climax was a lot of fun. I really should write part 3 and publish the thing. I think I decided, in the wake of Ashfall parts 1, 2 and 3 that I wanted to do the whole thing as one book rather than three separate little ones. Maybe I should revisit that. In my head I think was the dream that Mongoose would do it as a 'proper' publication. part 1 is close to being good to go. But Part 2 is a way off. Part 3 is only a vague plan.
tc