"Fixed" Small Craft

[Nebfer]

The Legacy small craft are notably borked, often saddled with excessive crew accommodations for their roles.

So heres my take on what they should be using current rules. Though as far as I can tell HMA is largely still useable as far as the weights go, though cost and BV are different, and the fact that it uses 2 base crew instead of the current 3 (easily fixed).

I used mechanized infantry bays for the passenger compartments, as many did use 1 ton per passenger, and this was a similar ratio, and it allowed them to have much more cargo space than sticking them in steerage quarters (which the crew got), As a quirk I also provided a dedicated cargo bay for life support.

S-7A Bus I provided two mech infantry bays for it's role as a people mover, it manages to have a 32t cargo bay (well 33.5 if you factor in the life support), which is what the 3057 fluff mentions (no where as much as the D&J value of 84t however)
 

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                  AeroTech 2 Vessel Technical Readout
                                  VALIDATED

Class/Model/Name:  Bus S-7A [Bis]
Tech:              Inner Sphere / 2602
Vessel Type:       Aerodyne Small Craft
Rules:             Level 1, Standard design
Rules Set:         AeroTech2

Mass:              100 tons
Length:            20 meters
Power Plant:       Standard
Safe Thrust:       3
Maximum Thrust:    5
Armor Type:        Standard
Armament:          None
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Class/Model/Name:  Bus S-7A [Bis]
Mass:              100 tons

Equipment:                                                              Mass
Power Plant, Drive & Control:                                           19.50
Thrust:  Safe Thrust: 3
      Maximum Thrust: 5
Structural Integrity: 5                                                  2.50
Total Heat Sinks:    0 Single                                             .00
Fuel & Fuel Pumps:                                                       2.50
Bridge, Controls, Radar, Computer & Attitude Thrusters:                  1.00
Fire Control Computers:                                                   .00
Armor Type:  Standard  (100 total armor pts)                             5.00
                           Standard Scale Armor Pts
   Location:                            L / R
   Fore:                                 50
   Left/Right Wings:                  15/15
   Aft:                                  20

Cargo:
   Bay 1:  Mech Inf Bay, Passengers (7) (2) with 1 door                 16.00
   Bay 2:  Cargo (1) with 1 door                                        32.00
           Cargo (1)                                                     1.50


Crew and Passengers:
      1 Officers (0 minimum)                                             5.00
      3 Crew (2 minimum)                                                15.00
     14 Bay Personnel                                                     .00
Weapons and Equipment      Loc        SRV    MRV    LRV    ERV  Heat    Mass
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TOTALS:                                                     Heat: 0    100.00
Tons Left:                                                                .00

Calculated Factors:
Total Cost:        3,514,224 C-Bills
Battle Value:      209


The ST-46 Short range shuttle
Also note I dropped the armor in a number of cases to be closer to their D&J values, at lest in terms of tonnage, not sure why these craft really need upwards of 20ish tons of armor.

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                   AeroTech 2 Vessel Technical Readout
                                  VALIDATED

Class/Model/Name:  Shuttle ST-46 [Bis]
Tech:              Inner Sphere / 2528
Vessel Type:       Aerodyne Small Craft
Rules:             Level 1, Standard design
Rules Set:         AeroTech2

Mass:              100 tons
Length:            25 meters
Power Plant:       Standard
Safe Thrust:       4
Maximum Thrust:    6
Armor Type:        Standard
Armament:          None
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Class/Model/Name:  Shuttle ST-46 [Bis]
Mass:              100 tons

Equipment:                                                              Mass
Power Plant, Drive & Control:                                           26.00
Thrust:  Safe Thrust: 4
      Maximum Thrust: 6
Structural Integrity: 6                                                  3.00
Total Heat Sinks:    0 Single                                             .00
Fuel & Fuel Pumps:                                                       5.50
Bridge, Controls, Radar, Computer & Attitude Thrusters:                  1.00
Fire Control Computers:                                                   .00
Armor Type:  Standard  (112 total armor pts)                             5.50
                           Standard Scale Armor Pts
   Location:                            L / R
   Fore:                                 56
   Left/Right Wings:                  17/17
   Aft:                                  22

Cargo:
   Bay 1:  Cargo (1) with 1 door                                        30.00
           Cargo, Life Support (1)                                       1.00
   Bay 2:  Mech Infantry Bay, Passengers (7) (1) with 1 door             8.00


Crew and Passengers:
      1 Officers (0 minimum)                                             5.00
      3 Crew (2 minimum)                                                15.00
      7 Bay Personnel                                                     .00
Weapons and Equipment      Loc        SRV    MRV    LRV    ERV  Heat    Mass
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TOTALS:                                                     Heat: 0    100.00
Tons Left:                                                                .00

Calculated Factors:
Total Cost:        3,747,060 C-Bills
Battle Value:      238
The KR-61 Long Range shuttle, the last of the 100 tonners

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                   AeroTech 2 Vessel Technical Readout
                                  VALIDATED

Class/Model/Name:  LR Shuttlecraft KR-61 [Bis]
Tech:              Inner Sphere / 2598
Vessel Type:       Aerodyne Small Craft
Rules:             Level 1, Standard design
Rules Set:         AeroTech2

Mass:              100 tons
Length:            20 meters
Power Plant:       Standard
Safe Thrust:       4
Maximum Thrust:    6
Armor Type:        Standard
Armament:          None
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Class/Model/Name:  LR Shuttlecraft KR-61 [Bis]
Mass:              100 tons

Equipment:                                                              Mass
Power Plant, Drive & Control:                                           26.00
Thrust:  Safe Thrust: 4
      Maximum Thrust: 6
Structural Integrity: 6                                                  3.00
Total Heat Sinks:    0 Single                                             .00
Fuel & Fuel Pumps:                                                      25.50
Bridge, Controls, Radar, Computer & Attitude Thrusters:                  1.00
Fire Control Computers:                                                   .00
Armor Type:  Standard  (120 total armor pts)                             6.00
                           Standard Scale Armor Pts
   Location:                            L / R
   Fore:                                 40
   Left/Right Wings:                  25/25
   Aft:                                  30

Cargo:
   Bay 1:  Cargo (1) with 1 door                                         5.00
           Cargo, Life Support (1)                                       5.50
   Bay 2:  Mech Inf, Pass (7) (1) with 1 door                            8.00


Crew and Passengers:
      1 Officers (0 minimum)                                             5.00
      3 Crew (2 minimum)                                                15.00
      7 Bay Personnel                                                     .00
Weapons and Equipment      Loc        SRV    MRV    LRV    ERV  Heat    Mass
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TOTALS:                                                     Heat: 0    100.00
Tons Left:                                                                .00

Calculated Factors:
Total Cost:        3,774,300 C-Bills
Battle Value:      274

The Mark 7 Landing Craft, this is a bit of a limited mod, largely limited to reducing the mass of the crew cabins, which allows for a 41 ton cargo bay. A more extensive mod is to remove one gunner, and the two small lasers, providing 6 more tons cutting 3 tons of armor allows for a 50 ton bay, alternatively dropping the speed down to 3/5 like it's "older" counter parts frees up 9.5 tons. An alternative weapons config is based on the D&J config (med laser, LRM5 & 2x small laser in the nose, and a med laser in the rear). Even so the cargo capacity is not near the fluffs 65 tons. While it can not carry a Rommel or Patton a Myrmidon is still a mighty fine tank.

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                   AeroTech 2 Vessel Technical Readout
                                  VALIDATED

Class/Model/Name:  Landing Craft Mark VII [Bis]
Tech:              Inner Sphere / 2841
Vessel Type:       Aerodyne Small Craft
Rules:             Level 1, Standard design
Rules Set:         AeroTech2

Mass:              150 tons
Length:            21 meters
Power Plant:       Standard
Safe Thrust:       4
Maximum Thrust:    6
Armor Type:        Standard
Armament:         
    2 Small Laser
    6 Medium Laser
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Class/Model/Name:  Landing Craft Mark VII [Bis]
Mass:              150 tons

Equipment:                                                              Mass
Power Plant, Drive & Control:                                           39.00
Thrust:  Safe Thrust: 4
      Maximum Thrust: 6
Structural Integrity: 6                                                  4.50
Total Heat Sinks:    10 Single                                          10.00
Fuel & Fuel Pumps:                                                       3.50
Bridge, Controls, Radar, Computer & Attitude Thrusters:                  1.50
Fire Control Computers:                                                   .00
Armor Type:  Standard  (232 total armor pts)                            13.00
                           Standard Scale Armor Pts
   Location:                            L / R
   Fore:                                116
   Left/Right Wings:                  35/35
   Aft:                                  46

Cargo:
   Bay 1:  Cargo (1) with 1 door                                        41.00
           Cargo (1)                                                      .50


Crew and Passengers:
      1 Officers (1 minimum)                                             5.00
      3 Crew (2 minimum)                                                15.00
      2 Gunners (2 minimum)                                             10.00
Weapons and Equipment      Loc        SRV    MRV    LRV    ERV  Heat    Mass
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2 Small Laser              Nose         3     --     --     --    2      1.00
2 Medium Laser             RW           5     --     --     --    6      2.00
2 Medium Laser             LW           5     --     --     --    6      2.00
2 Medium Laser             Aft          5     --     --     --    6      2.00
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TOTALS:                                                    Heat: 20    150.00
Tons Left:                                                                .00

Calculated Factors:
Total Cost:        6,940,448 C-Bills
Battle Value:      618

The K-1 Dropshuttle
It may not have that 55 ton cargo bay but 37 on long range flights with up to 6 more on shorter ones (or no passengers) is fine

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                                       AeroTech 2 Vessel Technical Readout
                                  VALIDATED

Class/Model/Name:  DropShuttle K-1 [Bis]
Tech:              Inner Sphere / 2536
Vessel Type:       Spheroid Small Craft
Rules:             Level 1, Standard design
Rules Set:         AeroTech2

Mass:              200 tons
Length:            28 meters
Power Plant:       Standard
Safe Thrust:       4
Maximum Thrust:    6
Armor Type:        Standard
Armament:         
    1 LRM 5
    4 Medium Laser
    1 Small Laser
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Class/Model/Name:  DropShuttle K-1 [Bis]
Mass:              200 tons

Equipment:                                                              Mass
Power Plant, Drive & Control:                                           52.00
Thrust:  Safe Thrust: 4
      Maximum Thrust: 6
Structural Integrity: 6                                                  2.50
Total Heat Sinks:    12 Single                                           3.00
Fuel & Fuel Pumps:                                                      31.00
Bridge, Controls, Radar, Computer & Attitude Thrusters:                  1.50
Fire Control Computers:                                                   .00
Armor Type:  Standard  (216 total armor pts)                            12.00
                           Standard Scale Armor Pts
   Location:                            L / R
   Fore:                                 90
   Left/Right Sides:                  40/40
   Aft:                                  46

Cargo:
   Bay 1:  Cargo (1) with 1 door                                        37.00
           Cargo (Life Support) (1)                                      6.50
   Bay 2:  Mech infantry bay, Passengers (7) (1) with 1 door             8.00


Crew and Passengers:
      1 Officers (0 minimum)                                            10.00
      3 Crew (2 minimum)                                                21.00
      1 Gunners (1 minimum)                                              7.00
      7 Bay Personnel                                                     .00
Weapons and Equipment      Loc        SRV    MRV    LRV    ERV  Heat    Mass
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1 LRM 5                    Nose         3      3      3     --    2      2.00
  Ammo (LRM 5) 48          ---                                           2.00
1 Medium Laser             Nose         5     --     --     --    3      1.00
1 Medium Laser             RW           5     --     --     --    3      1.00
1 Medium Laser             LW           5     --     --     --    3      1.00
1 Medium Laser             Aft          5     --     --     --    3      1.00
1 Small Laser              Aft          3     --     --     --    1       .50
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TOTALS:                                                    Heat: 15    200.00
Tons Left:                                                                .00

Calculated Factors:
Total Cost:        8,896,850 C-Bills
Battle Value:      651

And lastly the NL-42 Battle Taxi
Note: If one wanted to you could stick four Battle armor bays, for a full AFFS/CCAF/RAF/LCAF style platoon (16 troopers), though it would only have a single ton for cargo which would run out in under a day (with 3 squads its almost a ton per day). 
 

Code: [Select]

                   AeroTech 2 Vessel Technical Readout
                                  VALIDATED

Class/Model/Name:  'Battle Taxi' NL-42 [Bis]
Tech:              Inner Sphere / 3053
Vessel Type:       Spheroid Small Craft
Rules:             Level 2, Standard design
Rules Set:         AeroTech2

Mass:              200 tons
Length:            25 meters
Power Plant:       Standard
Safe Thrust:       6
Maximum Thrust:    9
Armor Type:        Standard
Armament:         
    2 ER Large Laser
    4 Medium Pulse Laser
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Class/Model/Name:  'Battle Taxi' NL-42 [Bis]
Mass:              200 tons

Equipment:                                                              Mass
Power Plant, Drive & Control:                                           78.00
Thrust:  Safe Thrust: 6
      Maximum Thrust: 9
Structural Integrity: 9                                                  4.00
Total Heat Sinks:    14 Double                                           3.00
Fuel & Fuel Pumps:                                                       5.50
Bridge, Controls, Radar, Computer & Attitude Thrusters:                  1.50
Fire Control Computers:                                                   .00
Armor Type:  Standard  (548 total armor pts)                            32.00
                           Standard Scale Armor Pts
   Location:                            L / R
   Fore:                                248
   Left/Right Sides:                  90/90
   Aft:                                 120

Cargo:
   Bay 1:  Battle Armor Squad (6) (2) with 1 door                       16.00
   Bay 2:  Battle Armor Squad (6) (1) with 1 door                        8.00
   Bay 3:  Cargo (1) with 1 door                                         9.00


Crew and Passengers:
      1 Officers (0 minimum)                                             5.00
      3 Crew (2 minimum)                                                15.00
      1 Gunners (1 minimum)                                              5.00
     18 Bay Personnel                                                     .00
Weapons and Equipment      Loc        SRV    MRV    LRV    ERV  Heat    Mass
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1 ER Large Laser           RW           8      8      8     --   12      5.00
1 ER Large Laser           LW           8      8      8     --   12      5.00
2 Medium Pulse Laser       RW           6     --     --     --    8      4.00
2 Medium Pulse Laser       LW           6     --     --     --    8      4.00
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TOTALS:                                                    Heat: 40    200.00
Tons Left:                                                                .00

Calculated Factors:
Total Cost:        13,885,100 C-Bills
Battle Value:      1,536


[Maingunnery]

So were are still missing some small craft.

- True cargo SC (with Q variant)
- Tug SC
- Highspeed SC

[Giovanni Blasini]

I would probably suggest full steerage quarters for the K-1 Dropshuttle.  Of course, it would probably also be considered a DropShip these days, too.

[Nebfer]

I would probably suggest full steerage quarters for the K-1 Dropshuttle.  Of course, it would probably also be considered a DropShip these days, too.

Well doing that would cut the cargo nearly in half. Though it likely would be classed as a dropship, which dose work well enough.

K-1 as a 200t Dropship
Thrust 4/6
SI 6
Engine 52t
SI mass 2.5t
Armor 21t
Fuel tonnage 30t
Pumps 1t
Crew & Passengers 12, 60t (all steerage, 4 crew, gunner, officer and 6 passengers)
Controls 2t
Weapons & ammo 7.5t (4 medium las, 1 small las, LRM-5, ton of LRM ammo)
Cargo 22t
Heat Sinks 9 free + 2 extra (11 heat sinks total)

So were are still missing some small craft.

- True cargo SC (with Q variant)
- Tug SC
- Highspeed SC

The Cargo SC is largely taken up by the Ares series, not exactly true cargo craft (more assault lighters), but both the Mk 1 and the later Mk 4 both carry 65 tons of cargo (XTRO primitives II).
Truly optimized ones can carry 110ish tons of cargo however.

Tugs are not seen, though only viable per the rules for small craft and fighters, which limits the use of Small craft tugs a bit.

Though im not sure what a "High speed" SC would be useful for.

[Kasaga]

A little comment on the NL-42 Battle Taxi. 

I don't think you have to worry too much on cargo tonnage. The simple fact is the transport zips in grapples the target reels itself in and away boarders.  Then the thing runs and hides until it can dock with its mothership or recover the boarding team.  Think of it as a helicopter in maritime search and seizure operations with the US Navy and Marines (I'm Army so its rough that I went there).

[wellspring]

I used .2 tons/passenger for short-term accomodations (the per-person tonnage of a clan foot infantry bay). Or 1 ton per five people, if you prefer. I feel like the math is slightly more intuitive that way.

With that quibble aside, really a matter of taste, I fully agree w/ you about this whole issue.

[Maingunnery]

The Cargo SC is largely taken up by the Ares series, not exactly true cargo craft (more assault lighters), but both the Mk 1 and the later Mk 4 both carry 65 tons of cargo (XTRO primitives II).
Truly optimized ones can carry 110ish tons of cargo however.

I would really like an SC that has 100 tons of cargo (no weapons perhaps, but with a Q variant).

Tugs are not seen, though only viable per the rules for small craft and fighters, which limits the use of Small craft tugs a bit.

And Satellite Support Vehicles. So most of its work would be in maintaining sat networks and SAR duty.

Though im not sure what a "High speed" SC would be useful for.

VIP or high value item courier.


I think that fixing SC would also entail filling in the empty niches, I am hoping that TPTB make them for an Age of War product.....

[Giovanni Blasini]

Well doing that would cut the cargo nearly in half. Though it likely would be classed as a dropship, which dose work well enough.

K-1 as a 200t Dropship
Thrust 4/6
SI 6
Engine 52t
SI mass 2.5t
Armor 21t
Fuel tonnage 30t
Pumps 1t
Crew & Passengers 12, 60t (all steerage, 4 crew, gunner, officer and 6 passengers)
Controls 2t
Weapons & ammo 7.5t (4 medium las, 1 small las, LRM-5, ton of LRM ammo)
Cargo 22t
Heat Sinks 9 free + 2 extra (11 heat sinks total)

Suggestion: drop back down to the 12 tons of armor from the original from DropShips & JumpShips.  That still gives you 192 points, plus your 6/location for SI, and you could do the 90/40/40/46 in your original post.  That bumps your cargo from 22 tons up to 31 tons.

Next, drop the 11th heat sink, which the original didn't have in DS&JS.  Now you're at 32 tons of cargo.  I'd even consider dropping down to the free 9 heat sinks, and bumping it to 33 tons.

Actually, the Quirk system would allow for an easy way to handle units that don't normally have their own KF booms, like small craft and space stations, to have them (just add the cost multipliers as part of the quirk).  DropShips & JumpShips gave the K-1 a crew of 2, but modern rules put small craft crew requirements at a minimum of 3 + gunners.  So, 1 "officer" and 2 "enlisted" in steerage quarters, along with 1 gunner in steerage, for 4 crew total, plus 6 steerage passengers would work.

Going back to your original post (I don't have HMA handy) and editing it by hand, I end up with something like this:

Code: [Select]


                                       AeroTech 2 Vessel Technical Readout
                                  VALIDATED

Class/Model/Name:  DropShuttle K-1 [Re-Re-Revised]
Tech:              Inner Sphere / 2536
Vessel Type:       Spheroid Small Craft
Rules:             Level 1, Standard design
Rules Set:         AeroTech2

Mass:              200 tons
Length:            28 meters
Power Plant:       Standard
Safe Thrust:       4
Maximum Thrust:    6
Armor Type:        Standard
Armament:         
    1 LRM 5
    4 Medium Laser
    1 Small Laser
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Class/Model/Name:  DropShuttle K-1 [Bis]
Mass:              200 tons

Equipment:                                                              Mass
Power Plant, Drive & Control:                                           52.00
Thrust:  Safe Thrust: 4
      Maximum Thrust: 6
Structural Integrity: 6                                                  2.50
Total Heat Sinks:    10 Single                                           1.00
Fuel & Fuel Pumps:                                                      31.00
Bridge, Controls, Radar, Computer & Attitude Thrusters:                  1.50
Fire Control Computers:                                                   .00
Armor Type:  Standard  (216 total armor pts)                            12.00
                           Standard Scale Armor Pts
   Location:                            L / R
   Fore:                                 90
   Left/Right Sides:                  40/40
   Aft:                                  46

Cargo:
   Bay 1:  Cargo (1) with 1 door                                        41.50



Crew and Passengers:
      1 Officers (0 minimum)                                             5.00
      2 Crew (2 minimum)                                                10.00
      1 Gunners (1 minimum)                                              5.00
      6 Steerage Passengers                                            30.00

Weapons and Equipment      Loc        SRV    MRV    LRV    ERV  Heat    Mass
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1 LRM 5                    Nose         3      3      3     --    2      2.00
  Ammo (LRM 5) 48          ---                                           2.00
1 Medium Laser             Nose         5     --     --     --    3      1.00
1 Medium Laser             RW           5     --     --     --    3      1.00
1 Medium Laser             LW           5     --     --     --    3      1.00
1 Medium Laser             Aft          5     --     --     --    3      1.00
1 Small Laser              Aft          3     --     --     --    1       .50
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TOTALS:                                                    Heat: 15    200.00
Tons Left:                                                                .00

Quirks: KF Boom-Equipped


I snipped the cost/BV, since I don't have the figures from HMA, and I checked the numbers with a calculator.  This is pretty close, as I recall, to what I did for "custom" K-1 DropShuttles for the old Solaris 7 game on the boards, where I had two K-1 DropShuttles working with Lostech prospector teams in the Solaris outback.

[Col Toda]

The Mark IX is missing as well . You mentioned you were army , I wondered if you ever tried to make a Puff the Magic Dragon anti -infantry and battle armor small craft. I tried a few times but was never happy with my results. I think it is just lack of small craft design experience .which you clearly have.

[Nebfer]

Suggestion: drop back down to the 12 tons of armor from the original from DropShips & JumpShips.  That still gives you 192 points, plus your 6/location for SI, and you could do the 90/40/40/46 in your original post.  That bumps your cargo from 22 tons up to 31 tons.

Next, drop the 11th heat sink, which the original didn't have in DS&JS.  Now you're at 32 tons of cargo.  I'd even consider dropping down to the free 9 heat sinks, and bumping it to 33 tons.

Actually, the Quirk system would allow for an easy way to handle units that don't normally have their own KF booms, like small craft and space stations, to have them (just add the cost multipliers as part of the quirk).  DropShips & JumpShips gave the K-1 a crew of 2, but modern rules put small craft crew requirements at a minimum of 3 + gunners.  So, 1 "officer" and 2 "enlisted" in steerage quarters, along with 1 gunner in steerage, for 4 crew total, plus 6 steerage passengers would work.

Going back to your original post (I don't have HMA handy) and editing it by hand, I end up with something like this:

Code: [Select]


                                       AeroTech 2 Vessel Technical Readout
                                  VALIDATED

Class/Model/Name:  DropShuttle K-1 [Re-Re-Revised]
Tech:              Inner Sphere / 2536
Vessel Type:       Spheroid Small Craft
Rules:             Level 1, Standard design
Rules Set:         AeroTech2

Mass:              200 tons
Length:            28 meters
Power Plant:       Standard
Safe Thrust:       4
Maximum Thrust:    6
Armor Type:        Standard
Armament:         
    1 LRM 5
    4 Medium Laser
    1 Small Laser
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Class/Model/Name:  DropShuttle K-1 [Bis]
Mass:              200 tons

Equipment:                                                              Mass
Power Plant, Drive & Control:                                           52.00
Thrust:  Safe Thrust: 4
      Maximum Thrust: 6
Structural Integrity: 6                                                  2.50
Total Heat Sinks:    10 Single                                           1.00
Fuel & Fuel Pumps:                                                      31.00
Bridge, Controls, Radar, Computer & Attitude Thrusters:                  1.50
Fire Control Computers:                                                   .00
Armor Type:  Standard  (216 total armor pts)                            12.00
                           Standard Scale Armor Pts
   Location:                            L / R
   Fore:                                 90
   Left/Right Sides:                  40/40
   Aft:                                  46

Cargo:
   Bay 1:  Cargo (1) with 1 door                                        41.50



Crew and Passengers:
      1 Officers (0 minimum)                                             5.00
      2 Crew (2 minimum)                                                10.00
      1 Gunners (1 minimum)                                              5.00
      6 Steerage Passengers                                            30.00

Weapons and Equipment      Loc        SRV    MRV    LRV    ERV  Heat    Mass
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1 LRM 5                    Nose         3      3      3     --    2      2.00
  Ammo (LRM 5) 48          ---                                           2.00
1 Medium Laser             Nose         5     --     --     --    3      1.00
1 Medium Laser             RW           5     --     --     --    3      1.00
1 Medium Laser             LW           5     --     --     --    3      1.00
1 Medium Laser             Aft          5     --     --     --    3      1.00
1 Small Laser              Aft          3     --     --     --    1       .50
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TOTALS:                                                    Heat: 15    200.00
Tons Left:                                                                .00

Quirks: KF Boom-Equipped


I snipped the cost/BV, since I don't have the figures from HMA, and I checked the numbers with a calculator.  This is pretty close, as I recall, to what I did for "custom" K-1 DropShuttles for the old Solaris 7 game on the boards, where I had two K-1 DropShuttles working with Lostech prospector teams in the Solaris outback.

One question is the crew is three plus gunners as you said, though are officers considered part of that? I figured that it was three crew plus the gunner(s) and officer(s), so 3 + 1 + 1 for a total of 5 (or 4 if their is no gunners).

[Giovanni Blasini]

One question is the crew is three plus gunners as you said, though are officers considered part of that? I figured that it was three crew plus the gunner(s) and officer(s), so 3 + 1 + 1 for a total of 5 (or 4 if their is no gunners).

Officers are considered part of that.  The specific rules are on page 189 of Tech Manual:

Small Craft: base crew minimum of 3
Civilian DropShip: base crew minimum of 3 + 1 per 5000 tons (round up)

In both cases, gunners add to the minimum crew needs.

Minimum crew, then, is as follows:

Small craft & DropShips: base crew minimum + minimum gunners

Notes under this section indicate 1 crewman per every 5 should be considered an officer.  Note that the rules say they should be considered an officer, not that they then add to the total number of minimum crew required.

So, in the case of our K-1 small craft, the formula works out to 3 base + 1 gunner = 4 crew total, with one of the four considered an officer.

When built as a DropShip, it works out to 3 + (200/5000) + 1 = 3 + 0.04 + 1 = 4.04 which, as the rules indicate, rounds up to 5, with one of those 5 considered an officer.

[Kasaga]

The Mark IX is missing as well . You mentioned you were army , I wondered if you ever tried to make a Puff the Magic Dragon anti -infantry and battle armor small craft. I tried a few times but was never happy with my results. I think it is just lack of small craft design experience .which you clearly have.

Who me? Yes I am but I do not have experience designing small craft.  I am trying to work my way into it.  I like shiny things.

[Nebfer]

Officers are considered part of that.  The specific rules are on page 189 of Tech Manual:

Small Craft: base crew minimum of 3
Civilian DropShip: base crew minimum of 3 + 1 per 5000 tons (round up)

In both cases, gunners add to the minimum crew needs.

Minimum crew, then, is as follows:

Small craft & DropShips: base crew minimum + minimum gunners

Notes under this section indicate 1 crewman per every 5 should be considered an officer.  Note that the rules say they should be considered an officer, not that they then add to the total number of minimum crew required.

So, in the case of our K-1 small craft, the formula works out to 3 base + 1 gunner = 4 crew total, with one of the four considered an officer.

When built as a DropShip, it works out to 3 + (200/5000) + 1 = 3 + 0.04 + 1 = 4.04 which, as the rules indicate, rounds up to 5, with one of those 5 considered an officer.

In short for small craft it's effectively 2 crew and a officer as the minimum.

This results in some errata
In all craft posted in the first post, remove 1 crewmen and put the resulting 5 free tons into cargo
S-7A Bus Cargo is now 37 tons +1.5t cargo for life support
ST-46 SRS Cargo is now 35 tons +1t cargo for life support
KR-61 LRS Cargo is now 10 tons + 5.5t cargo for life support
LC Mk VII Cargo is now 46 tons +0.5t cargo for life support (Dropping the small lasers and their gunner allows for a 52 ton bay)*
K1 DS Cargo is now 55 tons +6.5t cargo for life support (Note I Noticed that I also forgot to put the crew in steerage)**
NL-42 Battle Taxi now has 4 BA bays and 6 tons of cargo (about half would be for life support on long duration missions)

* It is now possible to get the Mk 7 to have that 65 ton cargo bay as shown below
** You could put the passengers in steerage bays, and still have 39 tons of cargo (with 6 passengers)

Note the Armament is a slight variation of the armament actually mentioned in it's own fluff, at lest the original TRO 3057 fluff, though this is also described in D&J.

Code: [Select]

                   AeroTech 2 Vessel Technical Readout
                                  VALIDATED

Class/Model/Name:  Landing Craft Mark VII [Mod]
Tech:              Inner Sphere / 2841
Vessel Type:       Aerodyne Small Craft
Rules:             Level 1, Standard design
Rules Set:         AeroTech2

Mass:              150 tons
Length:            21 meters
Power Plant:       Standard
Safe Thrust:       3
Maximum Thrust:    5
Armor Type:        Standard
Armament:         
    2 Small Laser
    2 Medium Laser
    1 LRM 5
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Class/Model/Name:  Landing Craft Mark VII [Mod]
Mass:              150 tons

Equipment:                                                              Mass
Power Plant, Drive & Control:                                           29.50
Thrust:  Safe Thrust: 3
      Maximum Thrust: 5
Structural Integrity: 5                                                  4.00
Total Heat Sinks:    10 Single                                          10.00
Fuel & Fuel Pumps:                                                       3.50
Bridge, Controls, Radar, Computer & Attitude Thrusters:                  1.50
Fire Control Computers:                                                   .00
Armor Type:  Standard  (180 total armor pts)                            10.00
                           Standard Scale Armor Pts
   Location:                            L / R
   Fore:                                 60
   Left/Right Wings:                  45/45
   Aft:                                  30

Cargo:
   Bay 1:  Cargo (1) with 1 door                                        65.00
           Cargo, Life Support (1)                                        .50


Crew and Passengers:
      1 Officers (0 minimum)                                             5.00
      2 Crew (2 minimum)                                                10.00
      1 Gunners (1 minimum)                                              5.00
Weapons and Equipment      Loc        SRV    MRV    LRV    ERV  Heat    Mass
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2 Small Laser              Nose         3     --     --     --    2      1.00
1 Medium Laser             Nose         5     --     --     --    3      1.00
1 LRM 5                    Nose         3      3      3     --    2      2.00
  Ammo (LRM 5) 24          ---                                           1.00
1 Medium Laser             Aft          5     --     --     --    3      1.00
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TOTALS:                                                    Heat: 10    150.00
Tons Left:                                                                .00

Calculated Factors:
Total Cost:        5,859,448 C-Bills
Battle Value:      494



And now for the Clan versions.

One thing to note about the Clan Mech infantry Bays is that they only carry 5 passengers, it seems that the clanners like having more leg room... (tonnage wise per passenger the IS bays spend 1.14 tons vs the Clans 1.6 tons). Though one mod I thought of was to give it 3 bays for 15 passengers at the cost of only having 29 tons of cargo space

S7A Bus C

Code: [Select]

                    AeroTech 2 Vessel Technical Readout
                                  VALIDATED

Class/Model/Name:  Bus S-7AC [Bis]
Tech:              Clan / 2843
Vessel Type:       Aerodyne Small Craft
Rules:             Level 2, Standard design
Rules Set:         AeroTech2

Mass:              100 tons
Length:            20 meters
Power Plant:       Standard
Safe Thrust:       3
Maximum Thrust:    5
Armor Type:        Standard
Armament:          None
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Class/Model/Name:  Bus S-7AC [Bis]
Mass:              100 tons

Equipment:                                                              Mass
Power Plant, Drive & Control:                                           18.50
Thrust:  Safe Thrust: 3
      Maximum Thrust: 5
Structural Integrity: 5                                                  2.50
Total Heat Sinks:    0 Single                                             .00
Fuel & Fuel Pumps:                                                       2.50
Bridge, Controls, Radar, Computer & Attitude Thrusters:                  1.00
Fire Control Computers:                                                   .00
Armor Type:  Standard  (140 total armor pts)                             6.00
                           Standard Scale Armor Pts
   Location:                            L / R
   Fore:                                 55
   Left/Right Wings:                  25/25
   Aft:                                  35

Cargo:
   Bay 1:  Mech Inf Bay, Passengers (5)  (2) with 1 door                16.00
   Bay 2:  Cargo (1) with 1 door                                        37.00
           Cargo (1)                                                     1.50


Crew and Passengers:
      1 Officers (0 minimum)                                             5.00
      2 Crew (2 minimum)                                                10.00
     10 Bay Personnel                                                     .00
Weapons and Equipment      Loc        SRV    MRV    LRV    ERV  Heat    Mass
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TOTALS:                                                     Heat: 0    100.00
Tons Left:                                                                .00

Calculated Factors:
Total Cost:        3,466,224 C-Bills
Battle Value:      289

Like many of the Clan units much of the differences are rather minor, slightly more armor (due to having 20 points per ton and not 16), and often a extra ton of cargo space.

ST-46 C
 

Code: [Select]

                   AeroTech 2 Vessel Technical Readout
                                  VALIDATED

Class/Model/Name:  Shuttle ST-46C [Bis]
Tech:              Clan / 2897
Vessel Type:       Aerodyne Small Craft
Rules:             Level 2, Standard design
Rules Set:         AeroTech2

Mass:              100 tons
Length:            25 meters
Power Plant:       Standard
Safe Thrust:       4
Maximum Thrust:    6
Armor Type:        Standard
Armament:          None
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Class/Model/Name:  Shuttle ST-46C [Bis]
Mass:              100 tons

Equipment:                                                              Mass
Power Plant, Drive & Control:                                           24.50
Thrust:  Safe Thrust: 4
      Maximum Thrust: 6
Structural Integrity: 6                                                  3.00
Total Heat Sinks:    0 Single                                             .00
Fuel & Fuel Pumps:                                                       5.50
Bridge, Controls, Radar, Computer & Attitude Thrusters:                  1.00
Fire Control Computers:                                                   .00
Armor Type:  Standard  (144 total armor pts)                             6.00
                           Standard Scale Armor Pts
   Location:                            L / R
   Fore:                                 70
   Left/Right Wings:                  22/22
   Aft:                                  30

Cargo:
   Bay 1:  Cargo (1) with 1 door                                        36.00
           Cargo, Life Support (1)                                       1.00
   Bay 2:  Mech Infantry Bay, Passengers (5) (1) with 1 door             8.00


Crew and Passengers:
      1 Officers (0 minimum)                                             5.00
      2 Crew (2 minimum)                                                10.00
      5 Bay Personnel                                                     .00
Weapons and Equipment      Loc        SRV    MRV    LRV    ERV  Heat    Mass
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TOTALS:                                                     Heat: 0    100.00
Tons Left:                                                                .00

Calculated Factors:
Total Cost:        3,712,560 C-Bills
Battle Value:      302

LC Mk VII C

Code: [Select]

                    AeroTech 2 Vessel Technical Readout
                                  VALIDATED

Class/Model/Name:  Landing Craft Mark VII-C [Bis]
Tech:              Clan / 2841
Vessel Type:       Aerodyne Small Craft
Rules:             Level 2, Standard design
Rules Set:         AeroTech2

Mass:              150 tons
Length:            21 meters
Power Plant:       Standard
Safe Thrust:       4
Maximum Thrust:    6
Armor Type:        Standard
Armament:         
    5 Medium Pulse Laser
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Class/Model/Name:  Landing Craft Mark VII-C [Bis]
Mass:              150 tons

Equipment:                                                              Mass
Power Plant, Drive & Control:                                           37.00
Thrust:  Safe Thrust: 4
      Maximum Thrust: 6
Structural Integrity: 6                                                  4.50
Total Heat Sinks:    10 Double                                          10.00
Fuel & Fuel Pumps:                                                       3.50
Bridge, Controls, Radar, Computer & Attitude Thrusters:                  1.50
Fire Control Computers:                                                   .00
Armor Type:  Standard  (264 total armor pts)                            12.00
                           Standard Scale Armor Pts
   Location:                            L / R
   Fore:                                130
   Left/Right Wings:                  42/42
   Aft:                                  50

Cargo:
   Bay 1:  Cargo (1) with 1 door                                        51.00
           Cargo (1)                                                      .50


Crew and Passengers:
      1 Officers (0 minimum)                                             5.00
      2 Crew (2 minimum)                                                10.00
      1 Gunners (1 minimum)                                              5.00
Weapons and Equipment      Loc        SRV    MRV    LRV    ERV  Heat    Mass
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2 Medium Pulse Laser       Nose         7      7     --     --    8      4.00
1 Medium Pulse Laser       RW           7      7     --     --    4      2.00
1 Medium Pulse Laser       LW           7      7     --     --    4      2.00
1 Medium Pulse Laser       Aft          7      7     --     --    4      2.00
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TOTALS:                                                    Heat: 20    150.00
Tons Left:                                                                .00

Calculated Factors:
Total Cost:        7,162,448 C-Bills
Battle Value:      1,027
K1C DS
 

Code: [Select]

          AeroTech 2 Vessel Technical Readout
                                  VALIDATED

Class/Model/Name:  DropShuttle K-1C [Bis]
Tech:              Clan / 2914
Vessel Type:       Spheroid Small Craft
Rules:             Level 2, Standard design
Rules Set:         AeroTech2

Mass:              200 tons
Length:            28 meters
Power Plant:       Standard
Safe Thrust:       4
Maximum Thrust:    6
Armor Type:        Standard
Armament:         
    5 Medium Pulse Laser
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Class/Model/Name:  DropShuttle K-1C [Bis]
Mass:              200 tons

Equipment:                                                              Mass
Power Plant, Drive & Control:                                           49.00
Thrust:  Safe Thrust: 4
      Maximum Thrust: 6
Structural Integrity: 6                                                  2.50
Total Heat Sinks:    10 Double                                           2.00
Fuel & Fuel Pumps:                                                      31.00
Bridge, Controls, Radar, Computer & Attitude Thrusters:                  1.50
Fire Control Computers:                                                   .00
Armor Type:  Standard  (304 total armor pts)                            14.00
                           Standard Scale Armor Pts
   Location:                            L / R
   Fore:                                111
   Left/Right Sides:                  61/61
   Aft:                                  71

Cargo:
   Bay 1:  Cargo (1) with 1 door                                        45.00
           Cargo Life Support (1)                                        9.00
   Bay 2:  Mech Infantry Bay, Passengers (5)  (2) with 1 door           16.00


Crew and Passengers:
      1 Officers (0 minimum)                                             5.00
      2 Crew (2 minimum)                                                10.00
      1 Gunners (1 minimum)                                              5.00
     10 Bay Personnel                                                     .00
Weapons and Equipment      Loc        SRV    MRV    LRV    ERV  Heat    Mass
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2 Medium Pulse Laser       Nose         7      7     --     --    8      4.00
1 Medium Pulse Laser       RW           7      7     --     --    4      2.00
1 Medium Pulse Laser       LW           7      7     --     --    4      2.00
1 Medium Pulse Laser       Aft          7      7     --     --    4      2.00
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TOTALS:                                                    Heat: 20    200.00
Tons Left:                                                                .00

Calculated Factors:
Total Cost:        9,405,600 C-Bills
Battle Value:      1,134


[Lagrange]

Though im not sure what a "High speed" SC would be useful for.

Several high-speed SC are a potent counter to assault dropships.  They can mount substantially more arms & armor than light ASF which might otherwise have that task while enjoying most of the benefits of ASF against an Assault dropship.

[Hellraiser]

I was working on something very similar to this recently.

Though I was using 3 ton "cockpits" for each crew member.
For "Space Marines" I used Jump Troops since there was some rule once that I read that had them use the same weight/size platoons.  (Before TW/TM/TO let you create them any way you want)

[Intermittent_Coherence]

My own issue with Small Craft is the minimum crew. Three just seems excessive to me. Modern airlines as I understand it follow a pilot/copilot/engineer setup, and I suspect that this is where the crew requirement is taken. And yet these crafts are well capable of getting off the ground with just one pilot. What's more, having three crew when the number of passengers number into the tens and even hundreds is understandable, but for smaller craft that don't need to haul around as much cargo? Or only fly shorthaul flights?

Popular fiction is full of craft crewed only by a pilot and copilot-gunner. And I would say such a setup should be possible for shorter-ranged or smaller smallcraft. I'd propose a pilot and copilot-gunner for up to 125T, a pilot, copilot and gunners for craft up to 150T, and the full three crew plus gunners for heavier. The pilot and copilot-gunner setup would make it easier to bridge the gap from aerospace fighters requiring only 1 crew to larger craft.

[Maingunnery]

My own issue with Small Craft is the minimum crew. Three just seems excessive to me. Modern airlines as I understand it follow a pilot/copilot/engineer setup, and I suspect that this is where the crew requirement is taken. And yet these crafts are well capable of getting off the ground with just one pilot. What's more, having three crew when the number of passengers number into the tens and even hundreds is understandable, but for smaller craft that don't need to haul around as much cargo? Or only fly shorthaul flights?

I can understand the need for 3 in cases of long range flights, which require crew to fly in shifts.

[Intermittent_Coherence]

Yeah, I get that. Like I said, that's the airline thing.

But what about short hops? Transorbital only trips? Intrafleet transports?

Thinking about this makes me think the limiter should be fuel tankage rather than actual size/mass.

[idea weenie]

Give the small craft penalties based on the crew size vs flight duration.  So if you have less than minimum crew, but more than half minimum crew, you take a piloting and gunnery penalty after 8 hours of operation.  If you have less than half crew, you take the piloting and gunnery penalty after 1 (maybe 2) hour of operation. If you have no crew, the craft loses 1 flight level (if in the atmosphere) every minute until you either wake up a flight-capable person, you run out of life support, or you commence lithobraking.

[Nebfer]

Yeah, I get that. Like I said, that's the airline thing.

But what about short hops? Transorbital only trips? Intrafleet transports?

Thinking about this makes me think the limiter should be fuel tankage rather than actual size/mass.

One thing to note about even the short ranged small craft in battletech is that they still vastly out range (many) modern craft and out range even B-tech fighters in space. That 5 ton fuel tank allows them a atmospheric only range of some 14,400km, and this ignores that they all can reach any where on the planet by doing sub orbital hops (or reach the moon in a few hours, and return). Further more a number of crew positions have been cut on real life aircraft (primary civilian craft), partly by tech and partly by cost cutting, cost cutting I do not think is a notable issue in B-tech, and the tech many not be present on some worlds...

This brings up a fact that many B-tech worlds may or may not have as a robust electronic navigation system as real life dose nowadays (a number of worlds do not run or regularly run GPS satellites, a common target for military raids), which allows for some crews to be omitted... So a Navigator might be a not to shabby of a investment for even trips to the moon... Or perhaps an engineer to deal with any pesky equipment issues... Another thing is the fact that even the short legged craft like the Landing craft Mk 7 are capable of multi day treks (that 3 tons of fuel can last it some 1.5 days with a continuous burn). So you will like to have some one to watch the craft while you sleep...

In all of your cases in real life your still looking at most likely a two person crew not one, in some cases you probably could get away with one, even so most craft would still be built to have more than one crew even if their operated with just one (most craft today are built as such, even business jets which where you likely see just a pilot even though the plane is built with two crew in mind). So while you probably could get away with one, their likely going to be built for more than one.


Crew roles I can see in most small craft, though a number of can be combined or omitted depending on the role.
Pilot
Engineer
Navigator
Load Master
Communications
Gunners
Commander
Sensor operator

For example
Pilot/Commander (and likely the "officer", though other crew many also have piloting functions), Engineer/Load master (monitors the engines and maintains them in flight as well as other maintenance functions, also looks after the ships cargo, as most small craft have notable cargo transport dutys) & Navigator/Communications (fairly self explanatory) as a basic crew, with Gunner(s)/Sensor operator(s) if the craft is armed.