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Thomas-Peters β Solstice Class Subsidized Merchant
Published: 2013-01-14 02:54:04 +0000 UTC; Views: 5747; Favourites: 58; Downloads: 173
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Description
A work in progress for the Traveller Group ChallengeThe Solstice is a 2-part starship. The lander is atmospheric capable, houses the main maneuver drive and powerplant, and features a large cargo bay. It also has a small area for passengers that wish to ferry up or down from the main ship. When the 2 components are docked, the Lander serves as the main maneuver drive and cargo bay. The main section, a spherical hull, holds the Jump Drive and powerplant, fuel, accommodations for passengers and crew, and the Bridge and sickbay.
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Comments: 43
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Specs and deckplans, please! Put them on DTRPG, will gladly pay an appropriate sum.
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If the operators are getting a subsidy, I'd think that the overall specs must be very close to the Type R "Fat Trader", in terms of cargo, passengers, and jump rating. Β No launch/lifeboat; the landing section has that covered, and only the landing section is streamlined... Β The biggest question I'd have before trying to write up the specs is: how much acceleration can the main section do with just the secondary maneuver drives?
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looks powered by ultrasound engine spaceship pregnancy
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Politely curious if there might be deckplans to this most unique ship ?
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No, I'm afraid I never did deck plans for this one. The "lander" has the maneuver drive and cargo bay, bridge and crew quarters. The rest of the ship is mainly jump drive, fuel, and the interstellar main bridge.
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nice work, what do you use for modeling/rendering?
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Lightwave--its been my modeling/ rendering workhorse for years. Currently, I'm using version 10.
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Thats a good concept for a modular system-solves several issues for moving cargo w/out multiple shuttles to/from orbiting mother ship.
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Interesting design, I do not know whether it is a practical one, but it is always nice to have more variations in designs (for everything) and the quality of the picture is superb.
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Stunned!
Absolutely out of this world in concept and execution!
Unprecedented!
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WOW! Thanks! I'm glad it appealed to you!
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To be more specific...
A detachable cargo/passenger module with the maneuver drive!
Cooooolll....
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That is damn genius - simple but utterly effective!
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It should look snappy once you get a commercial livery on it!
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Haven't even THOUGHT about markings, yet... if you have any ideas, let me know!
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Big lotus flower painted on the front
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So, I was thinking about entering the challenge...but no....the BIG GUNS have to open fire and make me feel like the toddler I am.
Thanks a lot, Mr. Awesome Model Maker.
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Awww, c'mon. To quote Bryan- "I DARE ya!"
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Why? So you and other big kids can tease me? I'm already the Milhouse of our little nerd qabal.
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Well, yeah, but only because you keep quoting that "Coast to Coast" guy...
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Would you rather I quote scripture?
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I'm....thinking about that one...
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C'mon boy. What's it gonna be? I can wait all night.
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Yeah, go ahead quote "Coast to Coast"
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Welcome to the dark side, my son.
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Really cool concept. Always liked those multi/modular ships
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For some reason this makes me think of those concept designs based off the Apollo launch hardware back in the day...
It's a great departure from the standard "well, it's KIND of semi-streamlined, so it can land and take off" ships we see in Traveller!
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Yeah, I see some of that aesthetic here. Well, I'm a great admirer of real space hardware, too, so that makes a certain amount of sense. The actual thrust vector lines up with the decks, too, so to some folks that automatically makes it "retro"
I've certainly done my share of hand waving about certain Traveller ships being "KIND of streamlined", and I guess with enough tech level you can justify anything. This one, I wanted to stay moderate tech, and cost-effective.
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I can picture a cislunar orbital yard churning these things out in batches of a hundred or more. Slap a megacorporate logo onto the hull and edge out the free traders...
And I see nothing at all wrong with the deck/thrust vector idea. The Broadsword-class and Frontier Cruiser ships have that design. It's just that every other classic 'canon' vessel seems to be laid out like an airliner or an ocean-going cargo ship.
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Cool design. I have a certain crush for multipart vessels though I never connected the concept to Traveller (which of course was due to ignorance). I just had to fav.
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I love the whole idea. To me, its got a little Gerry Anderson vibe about it. There arn't a lot of modular designs in Traveller, but a few have been published...
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did'nt one of these land in kecksburg pa a few years back ?
nice fresh design tom,fav-o- flave.
g
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Ya know, I'd forgotten abut that! Then I googled the event, and, yes, I think it MUST have been one of these! Thanks, I was going for something really different that would still fit in the Traveller universe.
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Very slick 
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Thanks! It IS kinda acorn like. I didn't start out that way, it just kind of happened while I was thinking about where everything would go...As for the name, maybe the spherical design, or thinking about the changing of the seasons-it just kind of struck me as a good name for a Trade ship.
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Very good name and a cool design. I dig it
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Well...at least its DIFFERENT 
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I'm tinkering with the design for a spherical hulled scoutship for the Traveller Challenge this month.
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