 December 14, 2010 - 11:31am | Refer to: The Capellan Free Merchants. thread for discussion. Note at present the Document link above only contains the information in the Zebs remastered as a place holder. more expanded material is certainly an option. item 1: I think we need a typical CFM craft. What hull size should it be? should be do a large and a small version? I'm currently for making all CFM the "reserve fleet" of the Rim or to put it another way all CFM captains carry a reserve commission in the Flight and can be activated instantly by a Flight admiral thus vastly increasing his fire power available for a sathar incurssion. That said all CFM ships should be more heavily armed then your typical freighter with one LB. They shouldn't be a dreadnaught but have enough that they'll handle pirates roughly. Lets talk out what the stats and capabilities of a CFM craft should be. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
December 14, 2010 - 11:40am | Zebs explicitly states the head quarters of the CFM as the planet Faire in Capella I'm leaning toward making making Osaka in the Osak system the seat of the Rim Coalition- it truly is the hub of the Rim and the only fortified system (2 armed space stations in that system and none everywhere else). to travel to the Humma or the ifshnit home systems you have to go through Osak and its the gateway to the chain of void jumps that take you out to Point Go. The CFM certainly dominates the Rim but having the actual seat of government in osaka gives the CFM a vineer of deniability that they aren't the be all and end of the rim government. (Remember the SOP of the CFM is to use front businesses). Plus I think it will be more interesting to break up the locations of the centers of power in the Rim. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
 December 14, 2010 - 9:47pm | Concerning making Osaka the seat of the Rim Coalition. This also keeps with the Osakar trying to keep the Ifshnits from monopolizing and the Humma from dominating. Likely in their own private way only the Osakar could get the Humma and Ifshnit to agree to a seat by making it not on the other guy's turf. -iggy |
December 15, 2010 - 12:12pm | I've been adding Cj's article on the ifshnit to the zebs documents but only put in place holder text for their history till I hear back from him on why the large gap of years between the CFM helping with the recovery effort from the SW1 and they special charter being granted to them by the UPF as a result of that action. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
 December 22, 2010 - 9:36am | CFM Dawn Trader-class light freighter Crew: 14 Weapons: LC, LB(×2) Defenses: RH, MS(x1) Engines: 3 Atomic "B" The Cappellan Free Merchants' stock light freighter, and its most common merchanter, is slightly smaller than the Frontier Pacific-class, with comparable performance. The Dawn Trader served briefly as the Flight's first warship, until its shortcomings forced the Flight to build the Springblade-class patrol combatant. CFM Tanstaafl-class bulk freighter Crew: 23 Weapons: LC(×2)*, LB(×2), TT(×1) Defenses: RH, MS(x2) Engines: 4 Atomic "B" *LC are fire-linked for 4d10 damage Like the Dawn Trader-class, the Tanstaafl-class bulk freighter serves as an auxiliary warship for the Flight, as well as a bulk cargo hauler, hence the relatively heavy armament. " 'Beware the Beast, Man, for he is the Devil's pawn. Alone among God's primates, he kills for sport, for lust, for greed. Yea, he will murder his brother to possess his brother's land. Let him not breed in great numbers, for he will make a desert of his home and yours. Shun him; drive him back into his jungle lair, for he is the harbinger of death." |
December 15, 2010 - 5:12pm | No doubt the CFM Tanstaafl-class bulk freighter easily converts to troop carrier with a handful of shuttles docked to each hatch. Very likely that the famed Hopping 109th was transported on one. I'll be uploading an article on New KH's equipment to the download's section on the HARM weapons system. I'm going to be adding to the article to state that the CFM developed it after their experiences in the Ifshno-Hummarin War as a way of dealing with the humma fighter swarm. Will would you mind looking at the article and consider ways to tweek these craft to take advantage of that system? BYW where did you get the name for the bulk carrier? We don't have to write the HARM system into the CFM and Flight- it just popped into my head the other morning while I had 45 minutes before leaving for work but what do you think? we give the Rim a race with an affinity for fighters (due largely to sociological and financial reasons- no doubt houses and lineages would field DD's and CL's if they could) and then we give the Rim militaries the a unique to them weapon system that is designed to smash fighters (only if you use the advanced damage table- its irrelevant with basic game rules) I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
December 15, 2010 - 5:05pm | No probs. I'll have something for you by Sunday at the outside. " 'Beware the Beast, Man, for he is the Devil's pawn. Alone among God's primates, he kills for sport, for lust, for greed. Yea, he will murder his brother to possess his brother's land. Let him not breed in great numbers, for he will make a desert of his home and yours. Shun him; drive him back into his jungle lair, for he is the harbinger of death." |
 December 15, 2010 - 5:28pm | BYW where did you get the name for the bulk carrier? There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch -> TANSTAAFL Robert A. Heinlein 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 |
December 15, 2010 - 5:44pm | BYW where did you get the name for the bulk carrier? There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch -> TANSTAAFL Robert A. Heinlein Nice! and appropox for a CFM ship. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
 December 16, 2010 - 4:00pm | If the ship design was upto me I do not think I would have only lasers on my ships because I like the advanced game damage table that the EB, PB, and DC can do from it. I would have gone with this setup for it. CFM Tanstaafl-class bulk freighter HS:12 HP:48 ADF:3 MR:3 DCR:60 Crew: 23 Weapons: LC, LB, EB, TT(×3) Defenses: RH, MS(x2) Engines: 6 Atomic "B" This design gains 2 MHS with this weapon configuration. With this setup attacking me, I would beef up the hull and MS because EB, PB, and DC are not affected by a MS and use them while in a MS. More to my liking would be, HS:12 HP:48 ADF:3 MR:3 DCR:60 Crew: 23 Weapons: DC, LB, TT(×2) Defenses: RH, MS(x2) Engines: 6 Atomic "B" this one gains 1 MHS. Because they are merchants I can see the ships not having much missle weapons due to the personel to keep them with ammo. HS:12 HP:48 ADF:3 MR:3 DCR:60 Crew: 23 Weapons: DC, LB, EB Defenses: RH, MS(x2) Engines: 6 Atomic "B" this one sacrifices no MHS to carry this loadout than the original design. I can see them keeping the ADF and MR as high as possible to be able to out manuever any ship that is the target with the thought of being able to continue firing and not have to worry about ammo running out. I would have to play test these designs before I actually choose one. But I think the avanced damage bonus would be nice to have beyond just hull damage to knock out some of the targets equipment. |
December 22, 2010 - 9:39am | CFM Tanstaafl-class bulk freighter Crew: 23 Weapons: LC(×2)*, EB, HARM(RB), TT(×2) Defenses: RH, MS(x2) Engines: 4 Atomic "B" *LC are fire-linked for 4d10 damage AND: CFM Dawn Trader-class light freighter Crew: 14 Weapons: LC, LB, HARM(RB) Defenses: RH, MS(x1) Engines: 3 Atomic "B" Both designs now incorporate the HARM system, and a couple of Gilbert's suggestions. Yes, I would envision the Tanstaafl-class serving in the assault transport role for the Flight. Some of the other ships in the class are the Greed Is Good, the Profit Motive, the Bottom Line, the Bull Market, and the Rules Of Acquisition, which has the following configuration: HS:12 HP:48 ADF:3 MR:3 DCR:60 Crew: 23 Weapons: LC(×2)*, EB, PB Defenses: RH, MS(x2) Engines: 4 Atomic "B" Notes: Carries six Tail Slash heavy fighters and six White Blaze interceptors in its cargo bay. Laser cannon are linked for 4d10 damage, The Rules Of Acquisition primarily travels along the Klaeok-Zebulon-Truane's Star-Dixon's Star-Cassidine astrogation route, ostensibly running cargo and providing armed escort. However, Star Law suspects the RoA and its captain, Shipmaster 1st Rank Maria Craig, of acts of piracy against Streel and PGC transports plying the starlanes between Klaeok and Cassidine. Also, a ship similar to the description for the RoA has been spotted running weapons and interdicted tech to the Boon'Sheh on Larg, and engaging Humma fighter craft on several occasions. So far, however, these allegations remain unproven. " 'Beware the Beast, Man, for he is the Devil's pawn. Alone among God's primates, he kills for sport, for lust, for greed. Yea, he will murder his brother to possess his brother's land. Let him not breed in great numbers, for he will make a desert of his home and yours. Shun him; drive him back into his jungle lair, for he is the harbinger of death." |
December 16, 2010 - 5:47pm | Gilbert makes a good point about the MS and certain beam weapons that I had not thought of. plus as much as I like my new weapons system there is a point to merchants not wasting space and wt on ammo- though historically I think the Dutch East India ships were more heavily armed then other merchants with the point being that pirates would give them a pass. I dont suppose the all CFM captains would go in for expendable ammo weapon while others might. i'm looking to do minimum of 5 (2 khs and 3 AD) encounter for the Hopping with the Humma section but will be even more pleased with 3 good KHs and 4 AD encounters and I'll feel like we've turned out a well arounded and thorough guide for the humma. that said I very much feel that we still need a sathar incursion into Fockrik scenario a few large sathar ships facing a swarm of small craft. maybe a third KHs could be from the brief dust up between the ifshnits and the humma CFM selling arms to a house competing for the Highest one's seat. coalition of houses (only a few HS1-2 or perhaps HS3 craft because its still early in the humma's space age) decide that aint going to happen. a pre HARM CFM craft is trying to break off and escape or it could be a CFM retaliation force coming to demand the return of CFM prisoners I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
December 22, 2010 - 8:11pm | I would like to submit a design of my own here just as a suggestion with the Merchant mind. I see the CFM ships being paramilitary with as close to being military as possible without loseing too much cargo space 2 maybe 3 units on the top ship but the bottom ship gives half its cargo for weapons. I would go with adding a torpedo launcher and 2 torpedos by giving up 1 additional cargo unit. I hope these are useful to someone. NOTE: Had to add ES and uped the HS to 14 for those pesky destroyers and the EB they carry that the Sather like so much. HS:14 HP:70 ADF:3 MR:3 DCR:80 Crew: 20 - 30 Weapons: LC, EB, LBx2, TT(×2) Defenses: RH, MS(x2), ES Engines: 6 Atomic "B" HS:14 HP:64 ADF:4 MR:3 DCR:80 Crew: 20 - 30 Weapons: DC, EB, LBx2 Defenses: RH, MS(x2), ES Engines: 6 Atomic "B" HS:14 HP:64 ADF:3 MR:2 DCR:80 Crew: 20 - 30 Weapons: DC, PB, EBx2, LB Defenses: RH, MS(x2), ES Engines: 6 Atomic "B" HS:14 HP:64 ADF:3 MR:3 DCR:80 Crew: 20 - 30 Weapons: LC, EBx2, LBx4 Defenses: RH, MS(x2), ES Engines: 6 Atomic "B" HS:14 HP:72 ADF:3 MR:2 DCR:80 Crew: 20 - 30 Weapons: DC, PB, EB, LB, TT(×2) Defenses: RH, MS(x2), ES Engines: 6 Atomic "B" HS:14 HP:72 ADF:3 MR:2 DCR:80 Crew: 20 - 30 Weapons: DC, PB, EB, LB, TT(×2) Defenses: RH, MS(x2), ES Engines: 6 Atomic "B" Are these in the right direction or need to be modified. I am not familiar with the HARM RB. |
December 29, 2010 - 2:50pm | Just a note to make this thread pop up on people's Whats New List as I'm about to add the CFM vessels to the documents section with a revised write up on the HARM ammo. Two of you have emails from me looking for specific information and I just want to make sure the ships listed here dont have any problems with posing as typical CFM vessels and everyone more or less thinks they look good. The plan is to use Wills 2 designs as spot light vessels since he wrote some nice blurbs on the vessels with some expanded comments from discussion within this thread and then follow up with a page of alternative ship designs that have proven popular with CFM captains from Gilberts submissions. This will work out real well as the nature of the CFM means that each captian is his own boss and will likely follow his own ideas with his ship. I just need a make sure that everyone is happy with what they submitted; anyone else can jump in here in the next few days while I'm wrapping up the Rim Guide and prepping it for review before it goes to the zine and gets turned into a stand alone PDF in the upload section of this project as well. Once the PDF for review is produced I'll send out an announcement in the main forums for comment on it and once the final editing is done I'll kick it over to w00t at the Star Frontiersman. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
December 30, 2010 - 10:53am | I'm wondering if the CFM captains would want to put CFMS in front of their ship's name seeing as how SOP for a CFM captain is to sell his stuff thru a front company. To be fair I do believe that CFMS would be a used designation and most CFM captains would have papers saying as much but they'd just as likely have CSS for Capella System Ship or KSS for Kazak System ship or PRS for Pale Republic Ship that they use all the time and if they need to stand on their diginty they assert the CFMS status especially if it can get them off of a legal technicality They will also have a RCS designation for when an emergency occurs and the Flight activates the captian's reserve commission- the ship instantly becomes a Flight vessel with RCS infront of the name. EDIT: if CFM shipmasters count as reserve for the Flight, will not the Flight also cover some of the cost and upkeep of the ship? either a flat monthly stipend or the yearly maintenance discussed in the rules. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
December 30, 2010 - 1:43pm | Pop Quiz: what other equipment will a Dawn Trader class vessel have on board? I interpret the crew of 14 to mean life support for 20 and a back up LS of 20 more (the cost for lLS for 14 is the same for 20). This begs the question of how much crew does a Dawn Trader need? 1. Lets assume robots for cargo handling so at least one roboticist to manage them and keep them going plus assist the engineer or act as the cargo handling expert 2. 2 or more astrogators to keep jump computation down to a reasonable number of days (I figure an Ion ship needs minimum of 5 days in system- 2 to decel 1 to fool around and be searched and or clead by the militia and 2 to accel to jump speed so with 2 'gators the ship could be ready to make a 10 LY jump in 5 days. This is if the merchant is in a hurry to get somewhere and doesn't want to hang around. He could even dispatch a pilot with an atomic powered shuttle to do a max decel to get to the station in orbit with a errands list and catch up with the ship before it jumps out 3. HS5? lets say 2 pilots as any ship this big will need at least one shuttle so optimal performance will be 2 pilots 4. Gunners? Will's design calls for 3 gunners but thats not a given, however these blokes will double as muscle for unpleasentness so they could represent money well spent 5. Engineers? this is a good question? when can an engine overhaul be done? underway or parked in orbit? the time is a minimum of 59hrs per engine reguardless of size though that could be 50 hrs with a lucky roll by a 1st level engineer. 60 hrs is 6 days time and a dawn trader has 3 engines so lets call it at least 3 engineers who will work like dogs every 3 void jumps. 6. if the Dawn Trader is plying the outer Rim visiting the Kazak and Cryzia systems and trading in ag goods then she's going to need an enviromentalist to inspect and deal with pest like the cryxian roach which likes to stowaway in ag cargos otherwise the ship will end up paying high fines and be quarrentined till system government certified exterminators clear it and that could take time so an enviro tech could be crucial or one can be hired as a day laborer in those systems. TOTAL: 12 crew assuming the captian/ owner fills one of the above positions- Pilot, astrogator or gunner- the other positions would likely take him away from the bridge too much. 'Gators, Pilots, and engineers will have dedicated jobs and the other crew will double up with extra responsibilities like cooking and etc. This means that the Dawn Trader could conceivable support 8 more passengers and will likely have a few cabins for just that purpose to suppliment its income. 2 1st class cabins and 6 journey class Equipment: By the book 1 life boat and 5 life pods, lets figure sub space radio, radar, and energy sensors, 1 launch (large or small), and 2 work pods Because of the CFM commitment to exploration lets also assume: 5 atmoprobes, It could have: 1 decoy (normally merchants dont waste time, money or space on a decoy but since CFM count as reserve naval units then maybe yes) I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
December 30, 2010 - 1:32pm | It's going to take longer than 2 days to declerate from jump speed (and accelerate again). At least comfortably. To do so in 40 hours means you are pulling just over 2g the entire time. You could do it but you wouldn't be doing anything else expect sitting in your accleration couches the whole trip. At 1g (10m/s/s) acceleration it takes 83.3 hours (just over 4 days) to go from 0.01c to stopped and vice versa. Remeber that because of the scales used, one ADF on the KH map equals 2.7g of accleration. 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 |
December 30, 2010 - 11:34pm | Pop Quiz: what other equipment will a Dawn Trader class vessel have on board? I interpret the crew of 14 to mean life support for 20 and a back up LS of 20 more (the cost for lLS for 14 is the same for 20). This begs the question of how much crew does a Dawn Trader need? 1. Lets assume robots for cargo handling so at least one roboticist to manage them and keep them going plus assist the engineer or act as the cargo handling expert 2. 2 or more astrogators to keep jump computation down to a reasonable number of days (I figure an Ion ship needs minimum of 5 days in system- 2 to decel 1 to fool around and be searched and or clead by the militia and 2 to accel to jump speed so with 2 'gators the ship could be ready to make a 10 LY jump in 5 days. This is if the merchant is in a hurry to get somewhere and doesn't want to hang around. He could even dispatch a pilot with an atomic powered shuttle to do a max decel to get to the station in orbit with a errands list and catch up with the ship before it jumps out 3. HS5? lets say 2 pilots as any ship this big will need at least one shuttle so optimal performance will be 2 pilots 4. Gunners? Will's design calls for 3 gunners but thats not a given, however these blokes will double as muscle for unpleasentness so they could represent money well spent 5. Engineers? this is a good question? when can an engine overhaul be done? underway or parked in orbit? the time is a minimum of 59hrs per engine reguardless of size though that could be 50 hrs with a lucky roll by a 1st level engineer. 60 hrs is 6 days time and a dawn trader has 3 engines so lets call it at least 3 engineers who will work like dogs every 3 void jumps. 6. if the Dawn Trader is plying the outer Rim visiting the Kazak and Cryzia systems and trading in ag goods then she's going to need an enviromentalist to inspect and deal with pest like the cryxian roach which likes to stowaway in ag cargos otherwise the ship will end up paying high fines and be quarrentined till system government certified exterminators clear it and that could take time so an enviro tech could be crucial or one can be hired as a day laborer in those systems. TOTAL: 12 crew assuming the captian/ owner fills one of the above positions- Pilot, astrogator or gunner- the other positions would likely take him away from the bridge too much. 'Gators, Pilots, and engineers will have dedicated jobs and the other crew will double up with extra responsibilities like cooking and etc. This means that the Dawn Trader could conceivable support 8 more passengers and will likely have a few cabins for just that purpose to suppliment its income. 2 1st class cabins and 6 journey class Equipment: By the book 1 life boat and 5 life pods, lets figure sub space radio, radar, and energy sensors, 1 launch (large or small), and 2 work pods Because of the CFM commitment to exploration lets also assume: 5 atmoprobes, It could have: 1 decoy (normally merchants dont waste time, money or space on a decoy but since CFM count as reserve naval units then maybe yes) First off, yeah, I would think the Flight would give a partial subsidy for the upkeep of CFM vessels, for several reasons, most obvious being that without the CFM, there would be no Flight in the first place. The 14 person crew figure included all the positions above, and assumed the captain would be a separate position from all the others. The 14th person's the loadmaster. " 'Beware the Beast, Man, for he is the Devil's pawn. Alone among God's primates, he kills for sport, for lust, for greed. Yea, he will murder his brother to possess his brother's land. Let him not breed in great numbers, for he will make a desert of his home and yours. Shun him; drive him back into his jungle lair, for he is the harbinger of death." |
January 1, 2011 - 6:42am | I figure the robotics spec could double as load master EDIT: I've been pondering the cost of fuel issue and I think that the ways in which the Flight might subsidize a CFM ship is 1. free anual maintenance 2. subsidized modification (not free) 3. subsidized fuel (atomic pellets are 10,000 credits- most merchants will use ion drives to save money especially for corgo runs involving multiple jumps) perhaps half price but only at Flight bases (Osak, Capella, Kazak; Point Go might have some but to see if any are available roll 2D10 and minus 10) since they need the CFM ships to have atomic drives to be effective auxillary warships then they need to encourage shipmasters to keep atomic drives and not convert to ion. Likely the CFM set up this arrangement to benefit their captains giving them a real edge over ion powered merchant men. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
