 July 24, 2008 - 5:52pm | I just read the chronocom article from SFMan, which pretty much invalidates this idea unless you play the game in an era before the development of subspace com. But, I had fun developing it so I'll throw it out there anyhow. It is basically a spaceship based takeoff on the pony express. A small ship one person (or possibly robotic) with a really big hard drive and really really big engines (giving the ship a huge ADF) sits at the edge of a system and recieves sublight message traffic. The ship then accelerates to the fastest possible jump speed to the next system where it drops just out of the void, deposits the messages for that system, picks up new messages, and accelerates slightly, to re-enter the void on its way to the next system. A network of these vessels would be in constant movement around the frontier delivering messages. The ship itself would be defended only by its speed and very short time in realspace. Combined with the fact that it doesn't carry anything valuable, and it would be ahead of messages to intercept it, makes it a pretty low value target unless you were a terrorist purposefully trying to disrupt communications, or some such thing. |
 August 2, 2008 - 9:15am | I like this idea, I may have to incorporate it into a campign I am corrently working on. It involves the UPF and Star Law becoming corrupt with the buying power of the Mega Corps and a rebellion breaks out. Comunications would become a high priority target. I was trying to come up with an idea that would by-pass normal comunications. That is if it is ok with you oghma? |
 August 2, 2008 - 2:20pm | Looks like I'm a little late to this one...haven't read the prior few pages but here's my take on it. Sounds a lot like the Traveller Scout service, which BTW is something I incorporated into my game as well. However...what separates Traveller from SF is SF can transmit subspace radio messages that travel faster than a ship can (moreso considering jump preparations) while Traveler has no such system, so data has to be loaded onto a ship to be transported. The "Courier Service" I use is just that, transporting small packages that would otherwise be deemed invaluable to freight haulers. As such, it becomes funded more by tax dollars than profit margins. So a HS:3 "Scout Courier" (which in a nutshell is a civilian assault scout) can carry a unit worth of cargo to a neighboring system and offload it to another waiting courier (cargo transfer takes far less time than engine overhauls) and away it goes, on a ship whose crew has already performed much of the astorgation number crunching. As such each craft is dedicated to one route, and there are typically a few craft for each travel route (depending on population sizes of the connecting systems). "Detached Duty" Scout Couriers become beneficial as exploration vessels, converted over with exploration and lab equipment. Some owners may even opt for Ion Drives to reduce maintenance costs/time at the sacrafice of performance, after all the craft will be making multiple jumps to unexplored areas. |
 August 2, 2008 - 2:54pm | I think that's the best take I've seen on it yet. I like that implementation. Ad Astra Per Ardua! My blog - Expanding Frontier Webmaster - The Star Frontiers Network & this site Founding Editor - The Frontier Explorer Magazine Managing Editor - The Star Frontiersman Magazine |
August 3, 2008 - 4:54am | That was my first thought too Umungus. You could also do the calculations while you are in the void. There may be good reasons why each of those things won't work though. |
 August 3, 2008 - 8:41am | That courier ship idea sounds like the most viable use of the "pony express" for the Frontier; unless the Referee was to rule some kind of inhibitor to FTL communications. One idea might be that of interferance form nebulas and dust clouds; which would make communication with the Rim worlds difficult to impossible (this could explain why those races went so long without contact with the rest of the Frontier.) These areas might then require data courier ships to maintain that communications link between these two regions. Just a thought. |
August 3, 2008 - 2:27pm | I never gave the Rim much thought, but that would be very feasible too. I have two access points in my campaign, a more direct route from Zebulon to Capella (instead of the "two jump" dog leg rotue depicted in Zeb's) and another from Ktsa Kar to Klaeok on the other end of the Xagyg nebula. Since trade is about the only mainstay between the Rim and the Frontier, it would make perfect sense for data to be transported in a similar manner. A parallel courier service could be established in the Rim, with hubs being in the "point of entry" systems, perhaps even with larger ships utilized between those Rim/Frontier jump points. |
August 4, 2008 - 5:20am | Anybody wanting to use this idea for their campaign, please go ahead that would make me happy actually. Shadow Shack's modification would be nice. If you positioned the receiver ship on the other side of the system then you could save on time by transmitting across the system to a jump prepped ship, already in motion. The timing on this would be a nightmare to manage logistically for a "real" company. Another option to get around the jump calcualation thing is to have somebody in the system pre-calculate it then upload the jump data to the ship as it passes through. |
August 4, 2008 - 8:50am | Pre-plotted jump calculations; sounds like a business opportunity here. The pilot/astrogator would down-load basic data (like departure eta, intended destination, exit route from system, etc.), pay the the service, go to the pub, and then pray that the service did thier job right! Convenient; but scary. It would be a great plot tool for the ref. ("This isn't Prenglar, folks.") |
 August 4, 2008 - 2:43pm | "And, it ain't Kansas either, Toto," the referee adds, as a group of small aliens surrounds the PCs' ship and begins to sing,"we represent the Lollipop Guild, the Lollipop Guild...." "You're everything that's base in humanity," Cochrane continued. "Drawing up strict, senseless rules for the sole reason of putting you at the top and excluding anyone you say doesn't belong or fit in, for no other reason than just because you say so." —Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stephens, Federation |
 August 13, 2008 - 1:12pm | "And, it ain't Kansas either, Toto," the referee adds, as a group of small aliens surrounds the PCs' ship and begins to sing,"we represent the Lollipop Guild, the Lollipop Guild...." Hrm... space tornadoes caused by solar flares.   MrJupiter, Oghma - excellent posts. :-) |
August 13, 2008 - 2:12pm | "And, it ain't Kansas either, Toto," the referee adds, as a group of small aliens surrounds the PCs' ship and begins to sing,"we represent the Lollipop Guild, the Lollipop Guild...." Hrm... space tornadoes caused by solar flares. MrJupiter, Oghma - excellent posts. :-) Nope. One of those darn time-travel, alternate universe plots which seem to infest nearly SF show on TV. Next up, one of the PCs step on a bug in ancient Egypt and their alternate timeline selves are now cleaning toilets on the I-40 west-bound rest stop outside of Oklahoma City. In hundred-degree weather yet.... (Sorry, I watched the SG-1 time-travel two-parter "Mobeius," and it's still on my mind.) "You're everything that's base in humanity," Cochrane continued. "Drawing up strict, senseless rules for the sole reason of putting you at the top and excluding anyone you say doesn't belong or fit in, for no other reason than just because you say so." —Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stephens, Federation |
August 14, 2008 - 3:24pm | Next up, one of the PCs step on a bug in ancient Egypt and their alternate timeline selves are now cleaning toilets on the I-40 west-bound rest stop outside of Oklahoma City. Hey, I stopped at that rest stop about five years ago on the way to Branson. It's about time someone got around to cleaning it! |
August 16, 2008 - 11:56am | It hasn't changed much, Shadow. believe me.... "You're everything that's base in humanity," Cochrane continued. "Drawing up strict, senseless rules for the sole reason of putting you at the top and excluding anyone you say doesn't belong or fit in, for no other reason than just because you say so." —Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stephens, Federation |
 September 7, 2008 - 1:54am | Theres no reason this concept couldnt be used for darker purposes. Theres always someone who might want something moved, quickly, RFN. Perhaps under the radar? Catapultam habeo. Nisi pecuniam omnem mihi dabis, ad caput tuum saxum immane mittam. |
September 7, 2008 - 2:56am | Work like that is better sought in the civilian sector, via independant freight haulers that dabble in the small package trade. They're more apt to take the risks as they don't have a cherry government job at stake...Which isn't to say that someone wouldn't acquire a "pony express" ship via decommissioning auctions etc and attempt to fool the militia ships it may encounter later. |
September 7, 2008 - 3:44pm | "Or are you referring to a civilian fleet that mimics the ideal of having jump-ready ships waiting in connecting systems?" That. Catapultam habeo. Nisi pecuniam omnem mihi dabis, ad caput tuum saxum immane mittam. |
September 9, 2008 - 5:43am | Definitely feasible, but they'd have to charge an arm and a pseudopod for such transport. |
September 9, 2008 - 11:42am | I think thats the point, when they positively, absolutly need it there asap. And are willing to shell out the cash to make it so. Catapultam habeo. Nisi pecuniam omnem mihi dabis, ad caput tuum saxum immane mittam. |
September 9, 2008 - 6:28pm | The way I see it, the "company" would need to maintain a fleet of HS:2-4 craft all capable of ADF:4, with a ship stationed in each system. Once a job is taken, an encrypted subspace transmission would go out immediately to each vessel along the desired route, whose astrogators would immediately begin crunching numbers. As each vessel arrives insystem, the "package" would be offloaded to the awaiting vessel, which would in turn do a maximum burn in order to jump to the next system (which the work has already been accomplished for if all goes well). In order to be profitable, each crew member would have to be paid for during the duration of the job, each fuel pellet would have to be accounted for, any taxes would have to be absorbed (destination militas etc), and a host of other considerations. Obviously the HS:2 craft could do the job cheaper than the 3-4 craft witht heir single drives and smaller crews. And there are a few obstacles as well...say the package starts in Cassidine and needs to be in Gruna Garu. Jump speed, if you do the math and go by the intro of the KH Campaign Book, is 200 hexes per turn. So it takes a mere 10 turns to reach jump speed at maximum burn ADF:4 (or just under two hours of four g acceleration). But that seven light year jump from Cassidine to Prenglar will take 70 hours of astrogation time (unless risk jumping is invoked, and you really don't want to lose any valuable high priced loads in the void), so you're still looking at 70 hours minimal prep time from the starting point. So an ADF:1 ion drive will be just as effective here. 71 hours after the job starts, the first leg is complete and the second ship will be awaiting somewhere, and a few hours will be spent locating/docking/transferring. But that ship also can't merely accelerate to jump speed right away either, because the 14 light year jump to Gruna Garu takes 140 hours of prep time, so again the acceleration rate does not come into play as that ship will still be performing the calculations. So for such a job, it's much cheaper and just as fast to use the standard "pony express" service. Now if the job were from Gruna Garu to Cassidine, the civilian version would work because once the Gruna Garu ship arrives at Prenglar, the work will have been long completed for the jump to Cassidine (thus permitting the under two hours of jump velocity acquisition) and this is where the extra price and less time would apply. The faster atomic driven civilian craft would only have a small advantage over the ion driven pony express ships for that job, as both craft will be crunching the numbers for a jump at the same rate, the difference being that it would take 18 hours longer for the pony express ship to arrive in Prenglar (ADF:1 will take 20 hours to achieve jump velocity versus the under two on the atomics), or almost one day GST time. Once you get that "shorter jump after a longer one" pattern, the pony express falls behind against the faster civilian craft in action. |
September 17, 2008 - 8:30pm | It would take precise timing, but would get rid of the problems of jump time calcs, and constant accel.: each system in the network has a ship. as the time approaches for the next courier ship to enter system, the next ship accellerates (all calculations have already been made). The incoming ship sends a burst transmission to the outgoing ship (all the info to be sent on) just before the outgoing ship jumps. ships go in or out 2 times per day along major routes, and once along minor routes. this gives information a speed of 1 system/day along the major routes, and 1 system/2days along the minor routes. The company that runs it could also charge money for the pre-calculated jump data to save ships the time of calculating their own jumps. (the above was written before i got to the second page, looks like some of the ideas already occurred to other people. well, i guess great minds think alike, and sometimes my mind thinks like that too.)  |
 September 17, 2009 - 9:43pm | To save space and make room for new artwork the pictures in this forum have been removed. They are available upon request |
