 January 16, 2016 - 3:01pm | I'd really appreciate it if any critiques were more specific than "cool", etc. I'm working this up as a possible submission to the magazines. What did I get right? What did I frak up? What more do you think I should add?
A hover disk (also known as a “flight disk”) is an older form of hover transportation from the early days of the Frontier that is still in use by the budget conscious adventurer, a few corporations, and on the “frontier of the Frontier” by colonists and civilian exploration teams. Hover discs are considered to be extremely basic transportation and are by no means high-performance vehicles. They are, however, cheap, stable, and extremely reliable/low-maintenance. Hover disks in the 1- and 2-man configurations consist of essentially a single hoverfan, platform, and rudimentary set of controls with a very basic to reduce wind resistance and provide a grip for the pilot's off (non-piloting) hand as well as the passenger (if any). The faring is of as light a weight material as possible to keep down weight (does not count as “inside a vehicle” for combat purposes, but movement rate penalties still apply). Some models omit the fairing and provide only a basic rail for gripping purposes. Protection from the elements is not offered. In theory, minimal protection in the form of an awning is possible, but adding such would severely hamper the maximum possible speed to prevent it being ripped off in the smaller versions. The 4-man version could be fitted with a basic canopy if desired, but few models come with it standard. The four-man version is more substantial, consisting of 3 hoverfans inside a saucer-shaped hull with bench seating for passengers and a surrounding rail for gripping purposes as needed. The seating can be modified by taking out the back-seat entirely as well as half the front seat to turn the disk into an ultra-light cargo carrier (capacity stated in stat-block). Some models of the 4-man configuration sacrifice ~50 kg of cargo/passenger capacity by fitting a Type AA power-generator and it's fuel, retaining the regular parabattery as a backup power-source. One popular option for most environments is a solar converter with the panels placed around the upper edge of the disc. This gives the vehicle virtually unlimited range in daylight as well as a reserve energy supply for overcast days and night operations. Military Modification Options Because of the very basic design and the need to keep the total weight down, hover disks cannot be armored, nor can weapons be fitted at all to the 1- and 2-man versions. The 4-man version could be fitted with a simple pintle-style mount if the owner was willing to sacrifice the passenger space/weight capacity. Passengers can, if they desire, use side-arms and long-arms at the standard penalties. Civilian Modification Options Again, the 1-and 2-man versions are unmodifiable in any way. The 4-man version is amenable to carrying more optional systems (radio communications, etc) within space/mass limitations.
2-man
4-man Image 1 source: US Army Image 2 source: 60s Jonny Quest Image 3 source: You Tube and 60s Jonny Quest | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 January 16, 2016 - 5:24pm | Cool! I'm teesing. I'll leave this tab open and go do some comparisons to other things in the rules. -iggy |
 January 16, 2016 - 7:28pm | Just an observation, but anything carrying the name "disc" should resemble something like the 4 man version at the bottom. The single person version at the top (and two man in the middle) looks more like a keg --- insert keg stand quip here for a more appropriate name. ;) |
January 16, 2016 - 11:19pm | Iggy: The nearest similar thing I could find was the hovercycle, so I pegged it to that. It's performace is worse by about 30% by my estimates, but it's only about 60% the cost. Shadow: Good observation. May go with "hover platform" instead. |
January 17, 2016 - 3:25am | Ok, 2nd draft: note name change and added flavor text: “Where in the Void did you dig those relics up, Doctor?” Lieutenant Shrag asked the elderly human checking off things being loaded into the landing stage of the expeditions survey-scout. The monkey-like Yazirian female stared at several disk-shaped vehicles lined up on the loading dock's floor nearby. Four of the six open-topped craft were barely large enough to carry one or two passengers. The other two looked to be able to seat four. “I'm glad we could get those hover platforms,” the doctor replied. “Like me, they may be old, but they've been around, and lived to come home again. We'll get a lot more done, Lieutenant, with them available..” Shrag had walked over to the nearest one while listening to the human. She inspected it dubiously. It looked like a good kick from a juvenile would put a large hole in the fairing, which was more than a bit scratched up and had several dings in it.”I could probably bend this fairing.” The human chuckled. “And you could bend it right back out again. That's why I asked for them. If we have to, we can patch them back together from pieces of packing plast. And the hoverfans will run like old-fashioned clockwork with just a minutes of care every week or so. Not like that over-thought, over-designed junk most people use now-days...” He made another notation on his manifest and muttered to himself. “Besides, those skinflints at the University wouldn't pay for better...” His comment wouldn't have been heard by many. Shrag' keen ears picked it up though. She glanced at the human, rolled her eyes, and wondered if it were too late to scrounge a few flight pods from the FEF motor pool...
A hover platform (known occasionally as a “flight platform”, “hover disk”, or “flight disk”) is an older form of hover transportation from the early days of the Frontier still in use by budget-conscious adventurers, a few corporations, and on the “frontier of the Frontier” by colonists and civilian exploration teams. Hover platforms are extremely basic transportation and by no means high-performance vehicles. They are however, cheap, stable, and extremely reliable. The controls are basic and intuitive enough that anyone can quickly learn them (requires no Piloting skill). 1- and 2-man hover platforms consist of nothing more a single hoverfan, platform, and controls, with a fairing to reduce wind resistance and provide a grip for the pilot's off (non-piloting) hand as well as the passenger (if any). The fairing is made from as light of a material as possible to reduce weight (does not count as “inside a vehicle” for combat purposes, but movement penalties still apply). Some models omit the fairing and provide only a basic rail for grip purposes. Typically, hover platforms do not offer protection from the elements. The larger, 4-man version can occasionally be found fitted with a basic hardshell canopy, or even more rarely, one made of cloth. The four-man hover platform consists of 3 hoverfans inside a saucer-shaped hull with bench seating for passengers and a surrounding rail for grip purposes. The rear seat can be removed entirely as well as half the front seat to turn the platform into a cargo carrier (up to 243 kg and ~5 cubic meters, depending on configuration). Some models sacrifice 50 kg of cargo/passenger capacity by fitting a Type AA power-generator and fuel, retaining the regular parabattery as a backup power-source. One popular option is a solar converter with the panels placed around the upper edge of the disc. This gives the vehicle virtually unlimited range in daylight as well as a reserve energy supply for overcast days and night operations. Military Modification Options 1- and 2-man hover platforms cannot be armored or have weapons mounted. The 4-man version can be fitted with a simple pintle-style mount if the owner was willing to sacrifice the passenger space/weight capacity. Passengers can, if they desire, use side-arms and long-arms (standard penalties apply). Civilian Modification Options 1- and 2-man hover platforms cannot be modified at all. The 4-man platform can be fitted with several small systems (radio communications, etc) within space/mass limitations. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
January 18, 2016 - 11:12pm | This is actually a pretty good set of stats. I compared it to a hover cycle and it is properly less. One thing you should do is use three seperate columns to detail the three options. This will make it easier to understand. -iggy |
January 19, 2016 - 2:03am | ^Not sure what you mean by separate columns? |
January 19, 2016 - 5:59pm | A column for each vehicle variation. -iggy |
January 19, 2016 - 9:53pm | Like This:
-iggy | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
January 20, 2016 - 2:38am | I'll keep that in mind for the next one if I do any more. I sent my submission off yesterday. :) |
 January 26, 2016 - 12:02pm | Personally I like the look of the Johny Quest version. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
January 26, 2016 - 4:52pm | ^Versions, you mean? Two of them came from JQ. :D |
