Approved Starship Bowser-class medium transport

[Dunames Lopez]

Image Source: Source
Affiliation: Galactic Tourist Bureau/Outcasts of Arkaos
Manufacturer: Ringovinda StarYards
Model: Bowser-class medium dropship
Modularity: Yes, fuel pods
Production: Limited (may become mass-produced on demand)
Material: Alusteel (hull plating), quadranium (hull frame)
Classification: Freighter/dropship

Length: 66.6 meters
Width: 32.3 meters
Height: 41 meters

Armament: 3 (2 double turbolaser turrets)
Defenses: 12 (Alusteel armor plating, deflector shields)

Hangar: None

Special Features:

- Inertial compensator
- Tensor field generator
Maneuverability Rating: 12
Speed Rating: 12
Hyperdrive Class: 4

Strengths:

- Strong hull
- Can carry outsize cargo as well as a sizeable number of passengers
- Good fuel economy
Weaknesses:

- Short-ranged (cannot fly more than 25,000 light-years before needing refueling unless you outfit external fuel pods)
- External fuel pods can render the ship vulnerable to attacks
- Slow (even frigates can sometimes outrun it)
Description: Built from modified ancient plans for ships that were originally designed for carrying AT-ATs for in-system use, the Bowser-class medium dropship is essentially a somewhat larger version of that ship designed to transport troops separately and with hyperspace capability (whereas the old version did not have an hyperdrive) As is standard on all Ringovinda StarYards ships, the medium dropship comes equipped with a tensor field generator and an intertial compensator as safety systems to keep all the occupants, as well as any cargo carried, safe so long as the ship survives. It can even carry two AT-ATs in its cargo hold, with its legs folded, or one MTT, or twelve AT-STs (with their legs extended; one can store six AT-STs in the space it would take to store one AT-AT on a Bowser)

The second deck houses passenger space, but it can also be converted to cargo space if needed. Here is the configuration in Star Tours service:

Passengers: 166 in bucket seats
Cargo: 1,500 tons (assuming 166 bucket seats), 2,500 tons (no seats)
Development Thread: If needed
Intent: To build a ship that can be used for mass transportation
Who Can Use This: Players affiliated with either the Galactic Tourist Bureau, Black Sun Syndicate or the Outcasts of Arkaos (but, if mass-produced at a later point, anyone)
Primary Source: http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Theta-class_AT-AT_barge

 

[Gir Quee]

RESEARCH REVIEW
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Star Wars Canon:
Pending initial review
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Starwars Chaos:
Pending initial review
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WITHOUT DEV THREADS
Pending initial review
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WITH DEV THREADS
Pending Initial review
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SUGGESTIONS
Pending Inital review

 

[Gir Quee]

Armament: 4 (3 triple turbolaser turrets, 6 quad laser emplacements)

I think that three triple turbolasers is rather heavy for a dedicated transport. This armament would make sense if this was on a picket corvette, but a picket corvette is dedicated to carrying all of that weaponry in it's rather tiny size.

Description: Built from ancient plans for ships that were originally designed for carrying AT-ATs for in-system use, the Bowser-class medium dropship is essentially a somewhat larger version of that ship designed to transport troops separately As is standard on all Ringovinda StarYards ships,

If this is designed to be a dropship deployed from capital ships (frigates, cruisers, etc), I'd recommend using the starfighter template. I realize that this falls outside of the average 1-50 meter length, but if it's going to regularly carried on capital ships, it needs the squadron count number found in starfighter template

.

It can even carry two AT-ATs in its cargo hold, with its legs folded, or one MTT, or twelve AT-STs (with their legs extended; one can store six AT-STs in the space it would take to store one AT-AT on a Bowser) The second deck houses passenger space, but it can also be converted to cargo space if needed. Here is the configuration In Star Tours service: Passengers: 525 (60 in cabins, 465 in bucket seats) - can be replaced by 3,000 tons of cargo if the passenger decks are gutted Cargo: 10,000 tons (lower deck)

The vehicle count looks good, but the passenger count and cargo space looks high to me. Dropships like the MT191 and the Y-85 Titan are about that the same size, carry vehicles, but can only carry 160 troops in "bucket seats" for short hops from a ship in orbit to the ground. They do not appear to be hyperspace capable at all.

For something that is hyperspace capable in this size category with the same role, we can see the CR-20 Troop Carrier and the CR25 Troop Carrier. These might arguably be longer-ranged than the Bowser, but it's worth noting that they only carry 40 troops.

This basically shows that there is a pretty steep tradeoff in passenger count in exchange for distance traveling.

Perhaps the closest craft that I can think of that is a happy medium between distance travel and carrying capacity in this class is the Y-4 Raptor.

I see three options for passenger count and ship's endurance level:

1) Large capacity, no hyperdrive( Y-85 Titan archetype): 180 troops & current vehicles (rough cargo capacity of 2500 tons when it's entirely stripped down)
2)Medium Capacity, Medium Range(same range as currently listed)(Y-4 Raptor archetype): 94 troops & current vehicles (Rough cargo capacity of 1500 tons when it's entirely stripped down)
3) Small capacity, long range(greater than current listed range) ( CR25 Troop Carrier archetype): 50 troops & current vehicles (cargo capacity of 1000 tons when its entirely stripped down).

Weapons should roughly follow the archetype that you're following, unless there is equivalent tradeoff somewhere else (like defenses).

Option 1: no weapons.

Option 2: 9 laser cannons and 5 warhead launchers or other equivalent

Option 3: 4 double turbolaser cannons and 2 laser cannons or other equivalent

 

[Dunames Lopez]

I did reduce the armament and cargo capacity, brought down hyperdrive rating to 4.

But, if the Space Master could carry 19,000 tons while being 80 meters in its largest dimension and having hyperdrive, then the Bowser could carry more than just 1,500 tons...

 

[Gir Quee]

[member="Dunames Lopez"], the Star Wars universe has a lot of different lore written about it that isn't entirely consistent with each other, and it's pretty easy to find outliers. For example, this 113 meter long transport can only carry 700 metric tons, whereas this 50 meter long transport carries 30,000 tons. Because there is such a wide disparity with cargo spaces, I aim to give the typical cargo space of most ships that I can find in order to provide parity for everyone here.

Passengers: 20 in cabins, 80 in bucket seats

Is this all at once? Or are the bucket seats and cabins alternative seating?

 

[Dunames Lopez]

Fixed the passenger ambiguity...

 

[Gir Quee]

This carries a bit more than normal for a ship this size, but I think that's well-balanced by its speed.

 

[Gir Quee]

Awesome. Pending Admin Approval. Thanks! [member="Spencer Varanin"]

 

[Allyson Locke]

Approved.